In the seventeenth century, Iranian imitations of Chinese blue-and-white export porcelain increased markedly. Using a stonepaste body instead of porcelain, Safavid potters synthesized Chinese Ming idioms with local tastes and created vessels such as this dish. At the center, two intertwined dragons grapple with each other, forming a six‑pointed star against a concentric wave pattern. While in Chinese mythology the dragon is a beneficent symbol, in Iran it is a fearsome, poison‑breathing creature.
