Kraak ware or Kraak porcelain is a type of Chinese export porcelain produced mainly in the late Ming Dynasty. It was among the first Chinese export wares to arrive in Europe in mass quantities, and was frequently featured in Dutch Golden Age paintings of still life subjects with foreign luxuries.
This plate is almost all painted in the underglaze cobalt blue against a white background. It is decorated with stylized flowers and most characteristic of Kraak decoration is the use of foliated radial panels. In other words, the surface of the porcelain is divided into segments, each containing its own discrete image.
Kraak Floral-shaped Plate
Kraak ware or Kraak porcelain (Dutch Kraakporselein) is a type of Chinese export porcelain produced mainly in the late Ming Dynasty. It was among the first Chinese export wares to arrive in Europe in mass quantities, and was frequently featured in Dutch Golden Age paintings of still life subjects with foreign luxuries.
Kraak ware is almost all painted in the underglaze cobalt blue and white porcelain style that was perfected under the Ming dynasty, although a few examples of dishes over-painted with vitreous enamel glaze have survived. It is often decorated with variations on the more traditional motifs found on Chinese porcelain, such as stylized flowers (peonies and chrysanthemums) and Buddhist auspicious emblems. However, most characteristic of Kraak decoration is the use of foliated radial panels. In other words, the surface of the porcelain is divided into segments, each containing its own discrete image.
The decoration also seems to have been particularly popular with the Dutch to which the word Batavia could have been used as a synonym due to the Chinese junk trade and the trans-shipping onto Dutch ships via Batavia.
Export wares with this decoration were common throughout the first half of the 18th century and included rounded dishes, vases, tea pots, tea bowls, saucers, lidded jars and other useful wares.
