Dimensions: Height: 7.3cm; Diameter at Mouth: 38cm; Diameter at Bottom: 24.5cm 

Origin: Appropriated from the Palace Museum, Beijing

Blue-and-white porcelains designate white pottery and porcelain decorated under the glaze with a blue pigment, generally cobalt oxide.

This large plate is coated with blue-and white glaze. Nine lotus flowers and their intertwined stems are painted all around the surface of the plate, symbolizing that the light of Buddhism illuminates all things. For in Buddhism, the lotus represents the true nature of beings, who rise through samsara into the beauty and clarity of enlightenment.