Description:
China trade painted enamel cup decorated in a variant of the "Cherry Pickers" pattern in pink, blue, yellow, green, turquiose, and brown. Enameled metals for the Western market often incorporated scenes of European interest as well as traditional Chinese themes. The popular French print, "The Cherry Pickers," was engraved by Nicolas Ponce (1746-1831), after a painting of the same title by Pierre-Antoine Baudouin (1723-1769). Baudouin's painting (now lost) is thought to have inspired a similar 1765 painting by his father-in-law, François Boucher (1703-1770), "La Cueilette des Cerises," which now hangs at Kenwood House, near London, England. The print found its greatest appeal on examples of Chinese export porcelain, and was rarely translated onto enameled metal pieces. This pattern seems to have been made primarily for the Dutch market according to Christiaan Jörg, who notes that in 1777, the directors of the China Committee of the Dutch East India Company sent a number of samples to Canton, including the "cherry pickers" pattern to be translated onto porcelain. Their letter confirmed that the "cherry pickers" decoration was in high demand, and included the statement that "it distressed us that our competitors and especially that the Swedes brought back more popular kinds than us each year." This cup or beaker form could have been used for consuming hot or cold beverages; tall, handleless vessels of European porcelain became popular in the mid-18th century for serving coffee or chocolate. The beaker has a band of floral sprays around the rim; over two shaped panels with a man climbing up a ladder to pick fruit for a woman waiting below the tree while holding out her skirt to catch the cherries; alternating with two medallions with scrolling floral sprays, butterflies, and birds; over a wavy blue band and floral sprays around the base and a yellow band around the foot.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+60.193 |
