Yongzheng Era, circa 1725 historical subject depicting what has traditionally been interpreted to be a male member of the Italian nobility. Painted with a black-stippled profile portrait of a brown-haired classical man wearing a blue bow-knotted green wreath within an iron-red-ground oval cartouche edged in shaded gold scrolls and surmounted by a jeweled coronet, the reverse of the cup with four insects surrounding a Famille Rose flowering branch, and the cavetto of the saucer with a butterfly and four small sprigs within an iron-red and gilt-edged rim. saucer, 4 3/4 in. Diam., and cup, 2 3/4 in. Diam. For further example, see Fuchs, "Made in China," p.121, fig. 72; Howard and Ayers, "China for the West," vol.I, pp.258-59; Hervouet, p.220.

Fine condition