Description:
Chinese export porcelain plate with an allegorical marriage scene decorated en grisaille (or 'encre de Chine' or ink color) in black, brown, flesh tones, and gilding. Chinese enamelers developed ink-color decoration as a method of reproducing print images on porcelain for the western market. Dominated by black enamels and washes, ink-color decoration was first produced in the 1730s and remained popular throughout the 18th century. Often period documents refer to this decoration as "pencil'd," reflecting its use of fine brush strokes and black color. According to Howard and Ayers, this scene was copied from the frontispiece of a 17th century book; and the rim's gilt scrollwork from a style popular on Meissen porcelain since shortly after 1725. Less than a dozen services with this scene are known in different plate sizes, rim borders, and armorials, all made for the Dutch market. Despite the intricacy of detail, this image was a standard pattern rather than a special order, probably made for no more than two or three seasons, where the figures remained unchanged; with special orders, only the coats of arms on the pillars and sometimes a motto personalizing the piece would be added. This plate has the arms of Johannes van Bergen van der Grijp (1713-1784), senior trader and head administrator of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Malacca (Malaysia), and Elisabeth Arnoudina van Beaumont Cornelis (1721-1759), the daughter of Cornelius van Beaumont (1690-1724), the "fiscaal" and senior merchant in the Cape Colony, who married in Batavia on November 18, 1736 and returned to the Netherlands in 1749. This plate was a part of a set of plates and dishes that numbered about 119 pieces in 1784-1785 when the set was inventoried. The Van Bergen van der Grijp arms with have the misspelled Latin motto "NUULIS VOLA ALTIUS ALES (no bird flies higher) are on the left and the Van Beaumont arms are on the right. The arched entrance is superscribed in Latin: "SEMPER AMOR PRO TE FIRMIISSIMUS ATQUE FIDELIS" (forever my love for you will be strong and true); standing on the left between the pillars supporting the arch is Prudence of Wisdom holding a mirror, and on the right, Ceres, protector of marriage, with a bundle of spices in her hand and a cornucopia at her feet. In the center the wedding couple stands before the wedding altar with two doves, the symbols of marital fidelity; they are crowned by Juno, goddess of marriage and maternity, with her peacock next to her, while Hymenaeus, god of the marriage ceremony holds his torch; behind him are other goddesses and to the left, dancing girls with garlands. In the foreground Neptune, nymphs, and tritons emerge from a wreath of reeds with two of the figures blowing horns to celebrate the marriage. Other plates from this service are in the Utrecht Centraal Museum, British Museum, Boymans-van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, and the Hodroff Collection. HD deaccessioned an identical plate which was sold at Sotheby's NY (January 16 and 18, 1997, lot 1404); and still owns a similar marriage plate (HD SR.12) with unidentified coats of arms.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+55.196 |
