A large Japanese Ai Kakiemon dish Japan, Edo, circa 1700 Diam : 31 cm A long hairline (with a chip from there) fixed with clips at the back With foliated rim and decorated in underglaze blue with the design with Chinese figures standing beside pine, bamboo and plum on rocky outcrops with a fisherman in a boat on a river, chocolate rim. The typology known as ai-kakiémon (also referred to as blue kakiémon) encompasses a type of blue and white porcelain related to kakiémon. Unlike the polychrome kakiémon, these ai-kakiémon do not have the milky nigoshidé paste, but they are still classified within the kakiémon category. This classification is partly due to their frequent origin from the Nangawara kiln and partly due to their distinctly kakiémon decorations: carefully crafted inventive compositions that leave ample space for white, landscape motifs, flowers, or birds similar to those found in polychromes, asymmetry in compositions, and the rare repetition of the same motif, along with impeccable quality of the underglaze blue (both in the purity of the blue and in the precision of the lines or gradients). The "ai kakiémon" were exported in very limited numbers at the end of the 17th century. Yvan Trousselle notes in his work "La voie du Imari" that "this very fine production in underglaze blue was undoubtedly an accomplishment of an elite group of decorators and potters who managed to master both the techniques of applying cobalt oxide with a brush and the firing in a reducing atmosphere to a high degree." The decoration present on this plate was notably copied by the Amstel porcelain factory and Delft faience (see C.J.A. Jorge, "Porcelain and the Dutch China Trade," The Hague, 1982, pl.157 and 120). It is known in Holland under the name "unhappy love." This design was popular in The Netherlands and copied by Amstel porcelain and Delft, see C.J.A. Jorge, Porcelain and the Dutch China Trade, (The Hague, 1982), p.143. For similar examples in the collections of Twickel Castle in Delden, Kassel in Germany and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, see: Christiaan J.A. Jorg, Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (Amsterdam, 2003), p.143, no.157. (Twickel Castle) Nishida Hiroko and Ohashi Koji eds, Kakiemon ten: Yoroppa ni kaikashita iroe jiki [Kakiemon exhibition: Polychrome overglaze enamel decorated ware that flourished in Europe], (Fukuoka, 1993), pl.120, 121. (Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel) John Ayers, Oliver Impey, et al., Porcelain for Palaces: The Fashion for Japan in Europe, 1650-1750 (London, 1990), p.158, no.134. Oliver Impey, Japanese Export Porcelain – Catalogue of The Collection of The Ashmolean Museum Oxford, (Amsterdam, 2002), p.116, no.143.(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Reitlinger Gift 1978.716, formerly in the collection of the Duchess of Portland at Welbeck Abbey)