1-234-438 - The Museum of East Asian Art/Heritage Images

Blue and white saucer with bird on tree, Ming dynasty, China, 1450-1499. Saucer painted in underglaze blue with a bird perched on a flowering tree within a double line bordered central medallion. There is a further double lined border at the rim. The reverse has a narrow band of dotted decoration between line borders at the rim and a band of spiky leaves round the base. The base has a small glazed sunken section which gives the name to this class of export ware - 'hole in the bottom'. There is no foot rim but instead an unglazed section round the hole in the bottom on which the piece was fired. The white is of slightly duck egg colour.