Square Dish

When brothers Ogata Kenzan and Ogata Kōrin collaborated on ceramic pieces, they most commonly used flat, squared dishes in a creamy white clay that mimicked a paper surface. Kenzan made the simple clay forms and added the calligraphy, while Kōrin contributed the pictorial elements. The subject of this painting is the Daoist god of longevity, with his distinctive elongated head. Although this dish bears signatures of both artists, there is significant disagreement among scholars about whether those signatures are authentic.