Height 4.3 cm, mouth diameter 35.0 cm, base diameter 19.1 cm
Tokyo National Museum
The composition depicting large peonies using a large amount of dark purple pigment is highly valued as a symbolic design of the Ko-Kutani style. There are about five existing large dishes that depict this type of peony design, three of which have geometric patterns on the interior, while this dish and the one shown in the next figure have peony and butterfly designs that fill the entire surface of the dish. This is a round, flat dish with an almost nonexistent raised rim, which is unusual among Ko-Kutani style platters.
The rim is covered with iron glaze to create a rim rouge, and the entire surface is decorated with peonies and mokusa, with only the mokusa and the yellow butterfly’s whiskers painted in red. The outside of the bowl is decorated with a unique peony arabesque in underglaze blue, and the inside of the base is also inscribed in underglaze blue with a Kakufuku inscription.
