352 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1946 
zone. ‘The saucers show a shiny white glaze, usually with a goldfish 
pattern in overglazed red-enameled slip in the center. The eye is 
white with a black pupil. Inside along the rim are decorations in 
blue, reminiscent of seaweed. Occasionally there is instead of the 
fish motif a combination of the character for luck, and the god of 
happiness. It is not clear why on these wares the customary bottom 
ridge is replaced by a depression, apparently an innovation made dur- 
ing the early Ming. One possible explanation is that the saucers were 
intended to be placed on a cylindrical stem which would fit the hole. 
The stem may have been made of wood or some other perishable mate- 
rial, which would not have lasted until modern times. It should be 
recalled in this connection that there existed in Ming times a ware 
comprising a saucer-shaped upper part on a porcelain stem. The 
hole-bottom saucers, four of which have been found at Penagpatayan, 
have been assigned by some writers to the fifteenth century. 
4. Dishes provided with a cylindrical ridge at the bottom appear in 
various colors. They are generally white-glazed, embellished with 
designs in blue. Occasionally the glaze is cream-colored and the 
design greenish. Monochrome celedon dishes are rare. The rim is 
either straight or slightly waved. Occasionally the bottom, even in- 
side the circular ridge, is glazed. The dishes are among the most 
spectacular of the ceramics and show a variety of designs. One of the 
most common patterns is the ch’i-lin, a fantastic composite animal 
with the head of a dragon, body of a deer, slender legs, divided hoofs, 
and bushy tail, some of the last-named reminiscent of a lion’s tail. 
This extraordinary animal appears among curling flames, a manifesta- 
tion of the divine nature of the ch’i-lin. This most noble creature in 
Chinese mythology is believed to appear as an omen of a good ruler to 
come and that it attains the age of 1,000 years or even more. Another 
common motif is composed of four flowers (chrysanthemums) com- 
bined with some other floral designs. In a few cases the dishes present 
a fish design in blue, surrounded by seaweed; these dishes are said to 
be of an “early fifteenth-century type.” Rather common is the design 
of a flower (chrysanthemum?) in a vase. We found only one such 
dish at Penagpatayan, but several at Kay Tomas. A few specimens 
show an interesting picture of a man and a woman in blue, which 
motif may be interpreted as the spinning maiden and her lover, the 
cowherd, meeting in the skies, a well-known motif in Chinese folklore. 
In addition to the above types, we found, as already mentioned, several 
native red-ware vases and dishes. The chronology of these wares is 
uncertain, but as they occur in tombs which can be ascribed to early 
Ming, it is evident that they were already being produced at that 
time, but it is possible that the same wares were also made later. 
