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Bill H very generously provided the information needed to do a little further research about this dish. The mark purports to be Zhong Zheng 1947. I have looked at similar marks on Michaela Russell”s amazing Watersilkdragon site but wondered if anyone might have any knowledge to add or ideas to share.

The dish is in your possession, what information do _you_ have to share about it? How did you come by it? What is its provenance?

Hi Rat

This dish is part of my personal collection and belonged to my Mum. She was a keen part-time buyer and seller of antiques and collectables (which I also enjoy doing) through the 1960s to 2012, when she passed away.

I do not know if this dish was something she purchased or if it came to her from my grandparents, which is a possibility. Post WW2 they lived between Princeton University in the US and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Unfortunately this does not help towards identifying provenance.

Thanks Vicky, I appreciate the background you shared and agree with you. Sorry I can't be more helpful with information about the dish itself; I have not seen similar examples so am not qualified to offer advice, but I'm happy to hear that Bill H. finds it convincing. I don't know how often Michaela checks her site for messages, but she is also a moderator at Gotheborg.com and can be reached on Facebook. Let me know if you can't get hold of her via any of those avenues; I think she would enjoy the images.

Actually, I just saw her post on these wares on watersilkdragon and think your dish is a very different creature from the items assembled there bearing the same 1947 mark; it's much less decoratively ostentatious and seems more like a literati scene (though these normally appear as paintings rather than on dishes). Not sure what that signifies though.

Hi Rat

Thank you so much for your thoughts and suggestions. I'm glad you saw the message thread about the bowl with Michaela's response. My dish does seem to be quite different from the examples of the painted medallion scenes on the vases shown on her site. One area in particular is the small raised waterfall feature on the dish, which has beautifully enamelled cascading/foaming water.

I wish I could upload some better images but the 500kb limit means some of the detail is lost. Anyway, thanks again for your input, much appreciated.

Vicky

Vicky, you probably need to understand past hierarchies on Taiwan. A number of dishes and patterns are known to bear this commemorative mark, which was used to honor Chiang Kai Shek, including a well-known example in the British Museum Collection as shown on Michaela Russell's Watersilkdragon website. In my nutshell opinion, the mark would have been virtually fake-proof, because fabrications would have dishonored the Generalissimo, as well as his politically meddlesome wife (Soong Mei Ling of the politically important Soong family) and two sons who survived him, the latter of whom held important positions in the military (adopted son Chiang Wei Kuo in the Army and Chiang Ching Kuo who eventually rose to the presidency). Everything including the mark, painting style, palette and molding is consistent with the time your mother and or grandparents would have come to possess the dish.

One guy's view,

Bill H.

Hi Bill, thank you very much for the background information about Zhong Zheng porcelains and the Chiang family. I highly value your opinions about the dish and am very grateful to you for taking the time to respond. Your feedback is really encouraging and so I hope to send some images to Michaela Russell. I've been trying to find her email address or contact details, but no luck as of yet. Thank you again for your detailed information.

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