Dish with Foliated Rim and Chinese Landscape

late 15th to early 16th century, Stoneware with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration, Vietnam (Annam), 2000.118

Learn about it!

Vietnamese artists started making art like Dish with Foliated Rim in the late 1300s. These artists were inspired by the designs and colors of Chinese blue and white porcelain, which was traded around the world. On this plate, lotus flower petals surround the picture in the middle. This dish came from Hai Duong province in northern Vietnam, the area that made a lot of ceramics in Vietnam at that time.

Let's Dive In

This dish is about 500 years old, but it was at the bottom of the sea for most of that time because it was in a shipwreck. Around 30 years ago, fisherman in Vietnam noticed some pieces of ceramics in their nets and divers went down to the sea floor to get the rest. The picture above shows blue and white ceramics that divers found off the coast of Southeast Asia from a shipwreck in 1997.

Look at the Dish with Foliated Rim in front of you, and then look at the photo. What do you think this plate looked like when it was first found, after hundreds of years of being underwater?

Picture by Christoph Gerigk, © Franck Goddio / Hilti Foundation.

Pick Your Own

  1. Look closely at Dish with Foliated Rim on the wall. Do you see the lotus petal pattern around the middle of the plate?
  2. This picture shows another work of art in the museum’s collection from Vietnam, made during the same time as Dish with Foliated Rim. Can you find the lotus petal pattern on the lower section of this vase?
  3. Look around at all of the ceramics in this room. Many of them also have flowers, leaves, or petals on them. Can you find three more artworks with floral designs?
Yuhuchun bottle, ca. late 15th to early 16th century Vietnamese Ceramic, 11 3/4 in. (29.8 cm) height, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2000.125.

Trading Places

When Dish with Foliated Rim was made in the 15th–16th century, many blue and white Vietnamese ceramic goods were traded to other places in Southeast Asia, like Indonesia.

Vietnam remains a hub of trade today. Watch this 2018 clip of boats carrying goods leaving Ho Chi Minh City, the most populated city in Vietnam.

Video by Kieu Truong on Pixabay, 2018.
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