1-234-446 - The Museum of East Asian Art/Heritage Images

Blue and white dish, Ming dynasty, China, c1500. Small dish with everted rim decorated in the centre with a spotted deer and crane among pine, prunus and bamboo (the Three Friends of Winter). The cavetto has a continuous lotus scroll and the rim has a broad band of trellis diaper. There is a band of two blackberry vine groups on the exterior. The deer and crane are both longevity symbols and the Three Friends of Winter are plants of good omen heralding the spring and adding a further auspicious meaning to the decoration here.