Description:
Chinese export porcelain teacup and saucer decorated in the Famille rose palette with butterflies, dragonflies, and four flowers including a carnation, rose and probably a tulip with their entwined stems forming initials or ciphers in pinks, greens, and blues; a black and gilt shield with masonic symbols such as a pyramid, Jacob's ladder, book and orb, and others derived from stonemason's tools such as a compass and square; and a gilt cipher with intertwined initials "ACE" on the saucer. A similar cup and saucer appears in Kroes, "Chinese Armorial Porcelain for the Dutch Market," cat. no. 271: "This coat of arms is unidentified, but is probably Dutch and this service may have been commissioned by someone connected with surveying, geodesy, or cartography. He probably moved in the same circles are the ship's captain Bastiaan Mol who ordered a similar service.... Some of the geometrical instruments resemble freemason's symbols, such as a pair of compasses, but these were not found on decorative objects before 1750."
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+61.003 |
