Eight-Lobed Dish with Design of Heron, Rock, and Three-Leaf Arrowhead

The center of this dish features a heron standing against a rock and three-leaf arrowhead (omodaka; Sagittaria trifolia). The eight-lobed rim is decorated with maple leaves floating on water, a popular design known as the “Tatsuta River pattern” (Tatsutagawa-mon). The Tatsuta River, near the ancient Japanese capital of Nara, is famous for this annual maple leaf autumnal spectacle.

Dishes such as this one were often produced in sets of 5, 10, or 20, making the superior quality of the images even more remarkable. The decorators of these wares must have been master craftsmen of the highest order to have painted such a quantity of porcelain that is equally filled with vigor, sensitivity, and consistency.