Arita kilns
Lobed Dish Decorated with European Sailing Ships
mid-19th century
Scroll
Arita kilns
Lobed Dish Decorated with European Sailing Ships
mid-19th century
Physical Qualities
Porcelain with underglaze cobalt decoration, 7/8 × 7 7/16 × 6 1/4 in. (2.3 × 18.9 × 15.8 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Terry Trapp, Baltimore
Object Number
1992.295
The black ships of the American Admiral Matthew Perry
arrived in Japan in 1853. These square-masted vessels appear
on this modest dish, which was decorated using stencils
rather than painted by hand. The ships came to represent
a great change in the life of Japan, and epitomized the promise
and danger of the unknown.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1992; Terry Trapp, Baltimore
Frances Klapthor, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Poetic Imagery of Japanese Art," February 22-August 8, 2010. (Levy Rotation)
