Dish or Sauceboat

The form and ornament of this dish or sauceboat reference elements from nature. It is molded in the shape of a subtly lobed leaf with an interior of radiating flower petals, similar in pattern to those of a dahlia, and a grooved loop handle at the stem end of the leaf form. The painted decoration in underglaze blue comprises a stylized flower and scroll pattern along the inner rim, a large, stylized butterfly in the well of the dish, and a single butterfly alternating with a house fly on every other lobe around the exterior.