A RARE CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE INSCRIBED 'BIRTHDAY' DISH DATED 1594 Painted with two phoenix...

A RARE CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE INSCRIBED 'BIRTHDAY' DISH

DATED 1594

Painted with two phoenix against a ground of peony flowerheads and scrolling leaves arranged around a central roundel with a single character ri, the reverse with three lion dogs and brocade balls to the cavetto and with seven lines of calligraphy to the base, 30.4cm.

The inscription to the base says that is was commissioned by Mrs Xiong. It celebrates their three sons, the eldest of whom married into the Imperial House. It goes on to say that it was made in the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory on an auspicious day in the fourth moon of the twenty second year of the reign of the Emperor Wanli of the Great Ming Dynasty, which corresponds to February / March 1594.