A large blue and white porcelain plate with rounded sides and a narrow rim. In the centre, within a double ring, a qilin with a scaled body, flame-like mane and horns leaps through a garden of bamboo, rockwork, broad leaves and flowering plants. The cavetto carries a scroll of peonies, the blooms shown alternately full face and in profile among leafy stems, and the rim a narrow band of flower and berry scroll. The blue is deep and inky, darker where the brush pooled.
The outside has a band of panels divided by groups of lines, each enclosing a stylised flame-like motif, with small rings between. The base is unglazed and flecked with iron-brown, and there is no mark. A piece of the side broke away and has been glued back, and the plate is sold as it is.
Learn more: The Ming Dynasty
