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Hi can anyone help translate the mark on the base of this dish.Also any other details or opinions on the dish would be great.Thank you.

Here are some more pics.the dish is 23 cm in diameter.It would be great to know what the marks on the base are,shopmarks?Any other opinion on this dish including whether the dish might be genuine or not,would also be most welcome.

Thank you.

Hi Martin,
Your dish in my opinion dates to the first or second quarter of the 19th century. Similarly decorated dishes were found on the wreck of the Diana, and dated to 1816.
The design has a central shou long life medallion surrounded by Om characters.
The mark on the back is probably that of an owner.
Regards
Tony

Hi Tony,
I have also found similar designed dishes were found on the shipwreck "Desaru" which were dated to around the same period.They are calling these dishes "longevity" dishes
The painting of the central medallion on the dishes from the Diana and Desaru shipwrecks look the same but the painting of the medallion on the dish I have is different.The brush work style is different with much larger gaps within the medallion.
As you can see from the pictures the unglazed base of the dish is also very brown.Maybe this is OK for the dish if dated to the same period of the shipwreck dishes?
Maybe this design of dish was produced over a long time period hence the differences?
I would also love to be able to translate the marks on the base.
By the way thank you for your response to my query.I am greatfull.

The character written in black on the base of your dish is "Shu" (樞), with root meaning of a hinge or pivot, thus by extension indispensable or fundamental. As "Tianshu" (天樞), it is the North Star, the pivotal star for fortunetelling in Chinese astrology. The medallion in the center of the plate appears to be a stylized "Fu" (福 - Fortune) character. This all suggests to me that you have a divination dish for use by Chinese fortunetellers. However, if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all. So you better get a second opinion on my guesswork in this matter.

Good luck,

Bill H.

Hi Bill H,

A divination dish,that's really interesting.Its great to know the translation of the mark as "Shu".Do you think it dates to the same time as the shipwreck dishes?
I wonder does anyone else have the same opinion on this dish or even a different one?

Thanks Bill H

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