Description:
Chinese export porcelain plate decorated en grisaille (or encre de chine or ink color) with "Aurora in her Chariot." 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. Various authors have identified this mythological figure as Aurora, Apollo, or Jupiter. Apollo is most closely associated with his symbolic animal, an eagle, and Jupiter was consistently depicted with the royal scepter and a thunder bolt. The crowing cock and winged horses identify this figure as Aurora, the goddess of the dawn. This decoration depicts an allegory of the eternal alternation of day and night. In Greek mythology Aurora rose from her bed every morning, leaving her aged husband Titone to shield his eyes from the morning light that flowed from her torch. The scene shows her emerging from the billowing clouds of night with a burst of sunlight over her head, holding a torch aloft as her chariot moves across the sky drawn by two winged horses; the outer rim of the curvature has a gilt spearhead border. Brawer notes that the Aurora design was derived from an engraving since the enameler included hatched lines. The rim has four gilt-edged shaped panels with elements used in the "Valentine" pattern, two with "Absent Master" (tree, wreath, dogs, shepherd's crook, pipes and hat, sheep) and two with "Altar of Love" (two flaming hearts on an altar, two doves billing on Cupid's quiver, wreath and side curtain). The Valentine pattern, a combination of pastoral, erotic, and exotic South Seas elements such as a breadfruit tree and coconut palm, was originally found on a 1743 dinner service made in Canton for Commodore George Anson (1697-1762). It was probably designed by then First Lieutenant Piercy Brett (1709-1781), Anson's official artist during his 1740-1744 circumnavigation; many of Brett's drawings were used as the basis for the engravings in "Anson's Voyages", published in 1748. Altar of Love and Absent Master were independent motifs, remembrances of home, first combined on the 1743 Anson service. These border panels are also found on circa 1745-1750 Chinese porcelain armorial servces and a few non-armorial services.
Tags:
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