Description:
Chinese export procelain plate decorated in underglaze blue with the arms of Pelgrom on the rim, which was from one of three different firings of a service made for Jacob Pelgrom (1655-1713). Jacob Polgrom was a Huguenot from Rouen who fled to Amsterdam and then went to the Bengal in the East Indies in 1688 where he became Director of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) from 1701-1705; he moved to Batavia in 1708 where he had several official functions such as head of the tax department. In 1681, he married Catharina Pigou (1656-1709) from Amiens and had four children. Kroes in his "Chinese Armorial Porcelain for the Dutch Market" writes that decoration on this plate is probably from a set "ordered by Jacob Polgrom a few years after the first sets, presumably c.1705-1710; the Chinese painter was clearly better acquainted with European heraldry and the armorial itself is more accurately representated." He also notes that the decoration is similar to the first two sets, but that the underglaze blue is somewhat lighter; the bird on the rock as a shorter tail; and the lotus flowers on the rim of the first two sets are shells on this set. The arms, which extend from the rim into the well, have a man on the top holding a stick, which on the original arms was a pilgrim holding a staff, over mantling. and an eagle, two weasels or foxes, three wheels, and a fir tree in the four quarters. The reverse is marked with a twin fish within a double circle; and the underrim is decorated with three Chinese symbols or precious objects.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2010.8.3 |
