An impressive Chinese blue and white Kraak porcelain circular dish (schootel), late Ming dynasty, Chongzhen period, vibrantly painted in two contrasting shades of underglaze blue with a central scene of a dignitary and two attendants in a fenced garden setting, the wide flat upturned foliate rim divided into eight radiating panels filled with landscape scenes of a seated scholar, wood gatherer, farmer with hoe and fisherman, alternating with stylized pomegranates, flowers and scrolling foliage, all divided by narrow vertical stylized flower panels, the underside with seven stylized tulip-filled ruyi-head panels divided by pine, bamboo and prunus uprights, diameter 47cm (minor glaze fritting to rim). Note: for similarly decorated dishes, see fig. 18 on page 39, item 51 on page 282, item 52 on page 286 and item 53 on page 290 of 'Kraak Porcelain' by Jorge Welsh, 2008.