Height 7.0cm, mouth diameter 34.2cm, base diameter 20.0cm
Ishikawa Prefectural Art Museum
This circular dish has a shallow rise and is slightly distorted into an oval shape. The prospect shows a large side view of a phoenix standing upright with one leg raised in the air. Although extremely rare, there is a similar, albeit less elaborate, composition in a piece of underglaze blue pottery excavated from the Hyakuman kiln in Arita’s Outer Mountains. However, the overglaze enamels on this piece are truly massive and gorgeous, and it is one of the most highly valued pieces in the Ko-Kutani style. On the reverse side, a large peony arabesque is spontaneously expressed in black lines and overlaid with dark blue overglaze painting.
The rim of the dish is surrounded by a circle in underglaze blue on both the front and back sides, and a circle in underglaze blue is also shown inside the base. The character “Yu” is written in slang script in a double corner in the center of the base, and dark blue overglaze enamels are also applied on it.
