Plate

The continuation of the ornamental design for late Ming export ware was represented in a narrative series of figures. This combat scene, based on a true event about the Yang military family of the Song dynasty, is depicted on the central bottom of the plate with six flower petals on a textile-patterned ground on the interior. When the eight Yang brothers lost the war against the nomad Liao, the fourth brother, Yang Silang, was arrested and forced to marry the Liao princess, Tiejing. The story depicted here shows the horse-battle: Tiejing wearing Liao armor and Yang wearing Chinese. The six petals on the exterior, each embracing a fungus, is set off by a floral band below. The six-character mark on the base of the plate reads daming Chenghua nianzhi ("produced during the Chenghua period of the great Ming dynasty").