Export Dish Shaped like a Lotus
1759-1769
Scroll
Export Dish Shaped like a Lotus
1759-1769
Physical Qualities
Porcelain with enamel and gilt decoration, 2 9/16 H × 13 3/16 Diam. in. (6.5 × 33.5 cm.); 3 lbs.
Credit Line
Dorothy McIlvain Scott Collection
Object Number
2012.425
Chrysanthemums bloom over a prunus branch in the center of this dish. Exported from China in the 1700s, lotus-shaped dishes like these were popular in Middle Eastern, European, and American markets. While lotus flowers have symbolic associations with purity and enlightenment in Buddhist and Hindu cultures, the meaning was probably lost on an American collector in the 1700s, who likely would never have seen a pink lotus plant in person but might have admired its beauty.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 2012; Dorothy McIlvain Scott, Baltimore
On View at the BMA
