A large porcelain dish decorated at the centre with a lady attended by her servants.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION :

The central scene depicts a lady seated, attended by two servants—one kneeling and serving her tea, the other holding a fan. The rim is adorned with eight cartouches alternating between lacustrine landscapes and floral motifs painted in grisaille. The cavetto is similarly divided into eight panels, this time alternating between lake scenes and dragons rendered in blue enamel.

Both the central motif and the border design represent one of the earliest known versions of this composition. The central scene reappears in later porcelain, with different borders, notably on two armorial services from the Qianlong period: one bearing the arms of the Gordon/Forbes families (see Sotheby’s, Chinese Export Porcelain from the Private Collection of Elinor Gordon, 23 January 2010, lot 145), and another bearing the arms of the Powell/Cleland families (cf. D. Howard, Chinese Armorial Porcelain, 1974, p. 314).

To our knowledge, no other dish of this size bearing this complete version of the design has been recorded.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

For an identical plate (23 cm), see:

– Musée Guimet, Paris, G 2467

For a saucer with the same design, see:

– Musée du Louvre, Department of Decorative Arts, R 1019

PROVENANCE :

– Private european collection

AVAILABLE