Plate

Plate. Round shallow shape with white textured early Qing porcelain with lustrous cobalt blue painting under the glaze. Depicts an old Chinese method of representing a dream. A scroll like vapor exhales from the brain of a scholar who has fallen asleep over his studies and this white vapour extends through the opening of the pavilion, where the dreamer appears pictured in the scrolled form, rescuing a young maiden from the clutches of a ruffian with a sword. Four oval medallions on the border show episodes in the lives of celebrated Chinese poets. Panel underneath bears the nien hao mark in six characters within a ring ( Kangxi mark).