Imari-style Ribbed Bowl with Interior Design of a Woman in a Garden

Chinese Imari ware is a fascinating example of the complex connections among Chinese and Japanese ceramic makers and the international market for their products. Chinese ceramicists in the 15th century created a form of decoration known as dòucǎi 斗彩, or fitted colors, that combined blue outlines, made from cobalt fired underneath high-temperature transparent glazes, with multicolored low-temperature enamels added on top of the glaze to fill in the blue outlines.

Dòucǎi porcelain was popular both domestically and in the Western market. When Chinese ceramic production was halted in the 17th century due to political turbulence with the fall of the Ming dynasty, Western traders turned to Japanese makers, who added rich reds and gold highlights to the glaze. Made in Arita but exported at the port of Imari, these ceramics came to be known in the West as Imari ware. When Chinese production resumed in the late 17th century, Chinese artists began to produce their own interpretations of the popular Imari ware, the best of which, like this example, date to the Kangxi period (1661–1722).