1514
Set of 3 Mixed European Subject Polychrome Plates
Estimate:
$5,000 - $6,000
Passed
Live Auction
June 10th, 2023 Gallery Auction l Paintings, Furniture, Decorative Arts, and Fine Rugs
Category
Description
Qianlong era, circa 1750-55
Chinese export Continental market,The first, painted with a sportsman and his sweetheart seated on the ground, toasting each other with wine glasses, two dogs seated at their feet before Italianate buildings in the distance, the cavetto with a gilt and grisaille cup-and-ball border, and the rim with a gilt shell-and-foliate-scroll border.
9 in. Diam.
La Porcelaine de Compagnies des Indes a Décor Occidental, F. & N. Hervouet & Y. Bruneau (Flammarion - Pere Castor, Paris 1986), p.70, no. 3.16. Sotheby’s New York, The Collection of Khalil Riz (Apr. 25, 2008), p.141, lot 160.
The second, within a scroll-and-shell border, a finely-enamelled scene in delicate famille rose colors of five ladies filling pitchers at a well and sixth departing at the left, and, on the right, Abraham’s servant Eliezer approaching, weary from his journey.
9 in. Diam.
This is the story of ‘Rebecca at the Well’ and undoubtedly after European original, although redrawn in Chinese style. The figures are clothed in yellow, pink, and pale blue robes, with grass, trees, and foliage in natural greens and yellows. The most prominent character, pouring water into her pitcher, is Rebekah. In Genesis, chapter XXIV.
A plate with exactly the same subject matter is in the Reeves Collection, Washington and Lee University (Lexington, Virginia). A saucer with exactly the same subject matter ending at the rim (no rim decoration) is in the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). See also China for the West, D. Howard and J. Ayers (Sotheby Parke-Bernet Publications, London), vol. I, p. 308, no. 301; Christie’s New York, Chinese Export Art (Jan. 18, 2017), lot 414, price realized $8,750.
9 in. Diam.
The third, presents a central scene of four card players seated at a table under a tree while another one watches. One of the seated players, with a glass in the right hand, tries to embrace a maid with his left arm. In the foreground, several chickens are scratching the soil. A French engraving in the style of David Teniers, entitled ‘Fetes Champetres,’ inspired the decoration. This kind of inn or pub scene with card players, drinking and cavorting, was one of the popular genre themese of eighteenth century Flemish painters. A gilt line defines the central reserve, and a tangled cord with eight shells makes the transition to the rim. The latter is decorated with two blossoming rose bouquets alternating with two branches of peach tree with fruits.
9 in. Diam.
La Porcelaine de Compagnies des Indes a Décor Occidental, F. & N. Hervouet & Y. Bruneau (Flammarion - Pere Castor, Paris 1986), p. 99, fig. 4.57. Sotheby’s New York, The Collection of Khalil Riz (Apr. 25, 2008), p. 141, lot 160.
Condition
Card players tight hairline, displays well
Provenance
The Biblical story of Rebekah from the book of Genesis:
‘And Abraham was old and well-stricken with age … and [he] said unto his eldest servant … I will make thee swear … that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son Isaac …
And the servant took ten camels … and departed … and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he said ‘O Lord God … Behold I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water….”
And it came to pass, before he had done speaking that behold Rebekah came out who was born to Bethnel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin … and she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up.
And the servant ran to meet her, and said, ‘Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.’ And she said, ‘Drink, my lord’ and she hastened and let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him to drink. And when she had done giving him drink she said ‘I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.’….
And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. And Isaac brought her unto his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her