An unusual Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated square bowl early 18th century

An unusual Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated square bowl early 18th century, originally decorated in underglaze blue, with a four character inscription on a square plaque before flowers, a sword and a small vase, later enamelled in Holland in polychrome enamels with additional pine trees, rockwork and embellishments to the existing decoration, the foot with an iron red cell diaper band, imitation four character red mark to the base, 11.5cm across.

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, no. 620. Purchased from Adrian Szanko & Peter Benjamin, September 1997.

It is likely that this bowl was originally intended for the Japanese market, so it is odd that it ended up in Europe. However, by happy accident the Kakiemon-style decoration has continued the Japanese theme. A similarly decorated dish in the Ashmolean Museum bears the same iron red mark, no. 1978-996.