Chelsea Dish
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A Chelsea dish
brilliantly decorated in Kakiemon enamels with two quails which are
pecking at millet grains beneath millet and other glowering plants. D: 9.7", 24.6 cm. Mark: red anchor Ref: Agnew and Marno, The Dragon and the Quail, catalogue, no. 35 for a Chinese version of this Japanese pattern. This pattern, and the other similar designs featuring quails are inspired by scrolls of the the Tosa school of painters who had been the official artists of the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Under Tosa Mitsuoki in the 17th century the quail and millet became the most celebrated subject. |
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