Description:
Chinese export porcelain dish in red, black, blue, green, brown, and gilding with the Pole family crest of a brown falcon crest on the upper rim, and the arms with a red and gilt chevron between three crescent moons (partially rubbed out) with ornate mantelling on the lower rim, probably made for Charles Pole (1695-1779), who was M.P. for Liverpool. The central well has one of three views of Fort St. George in Madras, India, in a four-lobed panel, all visible on an 18th-century engraving by W. Proud and only found on services for the British market. According to David S. Howard, Fort St. George, the pride of the East India Company in India, was a usual port of call between Plymouth, the departure port for ships leaving England, and Whampoa Anchorage, the destination for ships bound for Canton. Fort St. George was among the first few fortifications built by the East India Company in about 1635 to protect its interests in India from rival companies. This fortification also marks the making of Madras (now called Chennai) as a modern city. The fort as it survives today now houses a museum, and within the fort boundaries is the oldest surviving British church in India, St. Mary's Church. The two smaller reserves on the rim depict views of the Whampoa Anchorage with a tall pagoda on the left, and Plymouth Sound with the Plymouth Lighthouse on the right. These two scenes are contracted versions of vignettes probably composed by then First Lieutenant Piercy Brett (1709-1781) originally used to decorate a service for Commodore George Anson (1697-1762) who arrived in Canton with his ship, Centurion, in 1743. Brett was Anson's official artist during Anson's 1740-1744 circumnavigation, and many of his drawing inspired engravings for "Anson's Voyages", published in 1748. All these scenes were familiar to the traders who sailed between England and China by way of India.
Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); polychrome; Porcelain Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+57.092 |
