Plate decorated with dragon motif

A coiled three-clawed dragon is painted in the central medallion of this Arita plate. Seated and standing Immortals with a table, fan, flower pot, rock, flute, crane, tortoise and lamp as their attributes are depicted on the rim. The reverse bears painted garlands with lozenge-shaped diamonds – the so-called bronze mirrors from ancient times. This plate represents a very interesting type of artefact as the painted decoration was applied to the body (Arita shard) much later. The white shard nigoshide suggests it was produced in the workshops of the Kakiemon family in Nangawara. The embossed decoration is hard to make out today. It consists of six oval medallions with motifs of bamboo, pine and probably prunus. The painting was applied to the body at a much later date, sometime in the first half of the 19th century, probably in ceramic workshops in Kutani or Kyōto, as the colour range indicates. (See Filip Suchomel – Marcela Suchomelová, Mistrovská díla japonského porcelánu, Praha 1997, p. 102.)