Description:
Chinese export porcelain round plate decorated in Meissen-style in the Famille rose palette in pink, iron red, blue, yellow, brown, black, green, and gilding. Derived from the decoration on c.1730-1740 Meissen porcelain that probably reached China through the Dutch East India Company, this plate is painted in the manner of the 'Hausmaler' (home painter) style of Meissen. The European landscape shows a tall man wearing a crown and cloak, who is traditionally identified as Peter the Great (1672-1725), Czar of Russia, standing next to three barrels. Peter came to Amsterdam in 1697, where he spent some time incognito studying shipbuilding in the small port of Zaandam on the river, Zaan. According to David Howard, there are at least four variants of this theme known on porcelain decoration with a crowned workman among the clutter of riverside wharves, which were taken from a still unidentified print. This scene, which is surrounded by a rose and gilt scrolling rococo border, includes another man rolling a barrel at the shore of a river inlet; a small child to the left; trees sponged in green, blue, yellow next to houses in a fenced enclosure; a town on the opposite bank with a tall round building with a spire; and ships in the distance. The plate rim has three gilt and rose cartouches with Chinese landscapes bordered by gilt leaf garlands growing out of grotesques alternating with three gilt roundels with abstract Chinese dragons. A taped modern paper border across the foot reads: "Indes. Trois assistes a decorde paysage avec arbuste flueris, chien, et volatites. Guirlands dorees au maril XVIIIeme siecle."
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+53.P.02 |
