A silver-mounted Chinese blue and white 'narrative' dish

The dish is decorated to the centre with a scene of two warriors in a rocky landscape, probably a scene from the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ (Sanguo Yanyi). The panel is bordered with petal-shaped panels enclosing alternating scenes of pairs of warriors, all on a brocade ground. The silver swing handle is chased with a floral design and is stamped with marks: sword, lion passant, R (corresponding to 1850), and a further mark.

Catalogue notes: Compare a larger dish with this pattern held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, published in Christiaan Jorg and Phillip Wilson in Chinese Porcelain in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Ming and Qing Dynasties, Amsterdam, 1997, p. 94, pl. 82.