China - Lot 4

China Large round porcelain dish decorated in blue, red, green, pink and gold with the arms of Holland in a shield in the center, accompanied by the inscription HOLLAND in a banner, surmounted by a crown and flanked by two figures of Chinese women standing in a portico, the wing decorated with prunus in bloom and animated lakescapes in reserves on a trellis background. Yongzheng period (1722-1733), circa 1725 D. 43.8 cm. BIBLIOGRAPHY C. Le Corbeiller, China Trade Porcelain: Patterns of Exchange, 1974, pp. 38-39. M. Beurdeley, Porcelaine de la Compagnie des Indes, 1962, no. 64, p. 96. W.R. Sargent, Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, 2012. Four sets of dishes, plates or beard dishes, decorated with the coats of arms of the main cities and provinces of the United Netherlands, but also of France and England, were made in China in the 1720's. Thirty-three different coats of arms are now listed. Clare Le Corbeiller has suggested that these dishes were commissioned to commemorate the Triple Alliance between Holland, France and England in 1717. This dish, whose Chinese figures are decorated in the famille-rose palette, is part of the most elaborate series, dated around 1725. A dish from the same series, also inscribed Holland, recently sold with the Etude Pescheteau-Badin (Paris sale, December 13, 2019, lot 236).