Small polychrome-glazed porcelain dish decorated with tigers, China, for the Japanese market, Tianqi-Chongzhen period, c. 1625-1644 Enameled in blue, turquoise, eggplant and yellow on glaze, decorated with a tiger and cub under the sun among tall grasses, surrounded by rocks with flowering branches. Small insects fly above them. The wing is adorned with a frieze of lingzhi mushroom heads inspired by the Japanese decorative register, and the reverse with six small flowers enamelled in turquoise blue over glaze. The enameled base is left undecorated. Diameter: 14.2 cm Similar : Medley Margaret & Little Stephen, Collection Sir Michael Butler, Seventeenth Century Chinese Porcelain from the Butler Family Collection, 1990, n°27, p. 65 (illustrated). After the death of Emperor Wanli in 1619, China went through a period of turmoil in which the absence of imperial patronage forced the potters of the Jingdezhen kilns to seek out new markets, both domestic and foreign. This led to the production of porcelain for the Japanese market, with very specific shapes and decorations, between 1620 and 1645. It was designed to satisfy a new Japanese clientele, and coincided with the growing popularity of the Japanese tea ceremony, chanoyu, and the traditional Kyoto cuisine, kaiseki, for which our little dish was dedicated. The use of blue on glaze is atypical and rare before the beginning of the so-called "green family" porcelains of the Kangxi period, making this piece a rare example of which few exist.