This bowl's deep-blue tone, also known as 'Mohammedan blue' is due to an iron-rich cobalt pigment that darkens upon high firing. A three-clawed dragon and a phoenix chasing a flaming pearl decorate the inner rim of the bowl. The central decoration inside the bowl shows a four-clawed dragon stretched out to the side in a frontal pose, a common style in the 16th and 17th centuries. The outer walls of the bowl are decorated with fishes swimming amid water plants.Wares such as this example illustrates the turbulent period of transition from Ming to Qing rule at the end of the 17th century. They are evidence of the domestic interest in literary subject matter and of how the private kilns customised their wares for new markets, in the wake of the collapse of the imperial kilns.
