The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

White porcelain bowl decorated with blue. The bowl is rimmed with a band of swirling lines on the exterior and two parallel lines around the interior. Floral motifs with wavy stalks rim the exterior of the bowl, with more swirling lines near the base.

Bowl (wan) with Water Plants and Arabesques

1506–21

China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Ming dynasty

(1368-1644), Zhengde mark and reign (1506-21)
porcelain
Diameter: 21.6 cm (8 1/2 in.); Overall: 9.2 cm (3 5/8 in.)
Anonymous Gift 1957.359
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Chinese potters integrated foreign motifs, shapes, and ideas in order to cater to changing tastes and new customers in an increasingly global world.

Description

Arabesques, an ornamental design of intertwined flowing lines inspired by Middle Eastern culture, appear on Chinese blue-and-white porcelain since the 1300s. The early Ming emperors, particularly the Zhengde emperor, promoted Islam and commissioned porcelain with Islamic calligraphy.
  • 1957–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Jean Gordon. “An Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty.” The Philadelphia Museum Bulletin, vol. 45, no. 223, 1949, pp. 1–72. Mentioned: no. 106, p. 17; Reproduced: no. 106, p. 56 www-jstor-org.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org
    Carswell, John, and Jean McClure Mudge. Blue and White: Chinese Porcelain and Its Impact on the Western World. Chicago: The Gallery, 1985. cat. no. 35, p. 92
  • Blue and White: Chinese Porcelain and Its Impact on the Western World. The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (October 3-December 1, 1985).
  • {{cite web|title=Bowl (wan) with Water Plants and Arabesques|url=false|author=|year=1506–21|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1957.359