A cloisonné enamel 'Buddhist lion' dish, Ming dynasty, 16th / 17th century | 明十六 / 十七世紀 掐絲琺瑯瑞獅紋盤

Roger Keverne, London, 9th October 2012.

Roger Keverne，倫敦，2012年10月9日

Compare a dish of this type, decorated with two dragons in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession number: 29.110.96; and another, centred with a bird, from the Pierre Uldry Collection, included in the exhibition Chinesisches Cloisonne. Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Rietberg Museum, Zurich, 1985, cat. no. 130.

Among the animals associated with Buddhism, the lion is one of the most commonly portrayed. Lions were not indigenous to China but were imported as exotic gifts for the Han (206 BC- AD 220) and Tang (618-907) courts. The symbolism associated with the lion developed with the introduction and spread of Buddhism in China after the fall of the Han dynasty.