![](https://orientalceramics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/DSC_6283-1-670x670.jpeg)
A Finely Painted Wanli Kraak Porcelain Plate
A Finely Painted Wanli Kraak Porcelain Plate, Wanli Period c.1590 – 1610, Jingdezhen Kilns. The central scene is of a tall lady, elegantly dressed, dancing with long sleeves on a garden veranda. The rather improbable fence or wall, has bamboo and rocks on the other side, by her feet is a small scholars’ rock displayed in a pot. The panelled decoration is typical of Wanli kraak porcelain, but the finest painting has been reserved for the central figure. This unusual plate is probably a kiln waster, there is an open firing crack where the cavetto meets the flat well of the plate, at about 4 o’clock. The back has small amounts of iron-rich deposits, suggesting it has been buried. Kraak ware with firing faults turns up in China from time to time but it is very rare in a Chinese context. It is odd that Kraak ware, one the most important export wares of the late 16th to mid-17th century could have been buried in China. Four blue-and-white ‘kraak’ dishes were excavated from the tomb of Wu Nianxu (1547-1614), a provincial administration commissioner, and of his wife Mme He (1547-1610). Other burial Kraak is know I believe, and I have been told some have noticeable firing faults.
See Below For More Photographs and Information.
SOLD
- Condition
- In very good, minor fritting. The plate has warped during firing and there is a firing crack at 4 o'clock. It doesn't sit flat, the center has sunk as has the left side of the edge. See full description.
- Size
- Diameter 21.3 cm (8 1/3 inches)
- Provenance
- N/A
- Stock number
- 27026
- References
- For a Kraak bowl with similar decoration see : Jingdezhen to the World, The Lurie Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain from the Late Ming (Teresa Canepa, 2019. ISBN 978-1-912168-09-5). Page 112 and 113, item 28.
Information
Kraak Porcelain in Paintings
![Frans Snijders Still-Life including Kraak bowls. 1612-13 Oil on panel, 55 x 85 cm Private collection](https://orientalceramics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Still-Life-1612-13-Oil-on-panel-55-x-85-cm-Private-collection-300x189.jpg)
1612-13
Oil on panel, 55 x 85 cm
Private collection
![Still Life including Kraak Porcelain. Jacob van Hulsdonck (Antwerp), 1582 – 1647. Sotheby’s](https://orientalceramics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/258L12036_6GHSD-300x202.jpg)
![Willem Claesz. Heda (Haarlem 1594-1680) A nautilus cup with a silver salt, a red clay pot decorated with a prancing stag holding ostrich feathers on a partially draped table with a blue and white porcelain bowl, a knife, oyster shells and a piece of manuscript oil on canvas: a fragment 21¾ x 16 in. (55.2 x 40.6 cm.)](https://orientalceramics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2005_CSK_05825_0098_000-215x300.jpg)
A nautilus cup with a silver salt, a red clay pot decorated with a prancing stag holding ostrich feathers on a partially draped table with a blue and white porcelain bowl, a knife, oyster shells and a piece of manuscript
oil on canvas: a fragment
21¾ x 16 in. Christies, London.
Robert McPherson Antiques
Kraak Ware Exhibition - May 2020.
See our Sold Archive for more Kraak porcelain.
V.O.C. Design for Kraak Porcelain
![An anonymous sketch of Chinese porcelain added as loose sheets to the ships journal of the VOC ship the Gelderland, 1601-1603 (National Archief, Den Haag, The Netherlands.](https://orientalceramics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/VOC-Ship-Gelderland-1601-1603-192x300.jpg)