Description:
Chinese export porcelain octagonal plate decorated with the 'Valentine' pattern, in the Famille rose palette in pink, blue, greens, brown, iron-red, and black. The 'Valentine' pattern, a combination of pastoral, erotic, and exotic South Seas elements such as a coconut palm and breadfruit tree, originally found on a 1743 dinner service made in Canton for Commodore George Anson (1697-1762). It is assumed that the service was designed by 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. This scene is copied from that service with 'Altar of Love' (two flaming hearts on an altar, two doves billing on Cupid's quiver, wreath, and side curtain) and 'Absent Master' (tree, wreath, dogs, sheep, shepherd's crook, pipes and hat) which were independent motifs, remembrances of home, first combined on the 1743 service. However, the center tree no longer resembles the original breadfruit tree drawn by Brett after their stay on Tenian Island in 1742 to collect breadfruit trees for the British West Indian Colonies, and the palm tree is missing. This is an example of how quickly an original design was adapted and simplified by Chinese painters to save time and expense in production. The rim has a crest, "A stag's head couped' borne by more than 200 families but speculatively 'Murray', capt of HMS Tryall; 2 views: Plymouth Sound (normal departure port for ships leaving England) with Mount Edgecumbe, Rudyerd's Eddystone Lighthouse (destroyed by fire in 1756) and a ruined blockhouse, and the Pearl River and Whampoa (destination for ships bound for Canton) with a tall pagoda; and small sailing scene at the foot (where full arms could have been placed) otherwise unrecorded on armorial porcelain. This is the only service copying the original design with these longer views found on the Anson service.
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