Description:
One of a pair of Chinese export porcelain plates with a center spade-shaped armorial with the arms quarterly of four with Chadwick quartering the ancient family coats of Malvesyn, Carden, and Bagot, which is suspended from a lavender bowknot over a double gilt husk swag and flanked by a mantling of crossed green branches; a blue and gilt husk-and-bead chain around the outer well; and bands of blue and gilt spearhead around the rim. The back of the plates are inscribed in black: "Canton in China 24th Jany. 1791" as are all pieces of this service, which is the only one known to be dated this way. There are other pieces, either from this service or a possibly a second service, which display the arms quarterly of six, with Chadwick shown twice quartering Malvesyn, Carden, Bagot, and Heton; several of these pieces are inscribed "23 March 1791" on the back, which Homer Eaton Keyes recorded in his article on Chinese Export Porcelain in "The Antiques Magazine" (November 1928). Howard and Ayers note that: "The dates should be noted, for they reinforce our knowledge of the timing of trading journeys to Canton during the eighteenth century, Most ships had left Canton on their homeward journey before the end of January each year." The service was made for Lt. Colonel John Chadwick (1720-1800) of Ridware and Healey Hall, Lancaster County, who was a Lt. Colonel in the royal Lancashire and a magistrate for the counties of Lancaster, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire. Other pieces from this service are in several museums, including the British and Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Winterthur, and the Reeves Center Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. This particular service may have been a last minute request in Canton, generally ships arrived in China in late summer or early fall and departed in December or January, meaning this service was probably one of the last things loaded on board the vessel before its departure on the voyage to England.
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+61.001A |
