A porcelain ‘Marriage Plate’ decorated in grisaille with an allegorical marriage scene, produced for the Dutch export market.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION :

The scene, set beneath an arcade, is richly decorated with musicians and numerous deities, including Venus and Juno. The inscription above the arch, “SEMPER AMOR POR TE FIRMISSIMUS ATQUE FIDELIS”, expresses the vow of marriage.On either side of the scene, the columns bear the arms of Johan van Gergen van der Gijp and Elisabeth Arnaudina van Beaumont Cornelis (the bride and groom).

The marriage depicted here took place in 1736. Although this model also exists dated to the Yongzheng period—for example, a similar plate bearing the arms of Nicholas Geelvinck and Johanna Jacoba Graafland (the earliest known example of this design)—the date of the marriage allows this plate to be more precisely attributed to the early Qianlong period.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

For a similar example, see:

– British Museum, No. Franks.591
– Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels (Jörg, 1989, no. 78)

PROVENANCE :

– Louis Damon Collection

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