292.
FOUNTAIN
PORCELAIN DECORATED IN
FAMILLE ROSE
ENAMELS AND
GOLD
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736–1795), CA. 1740
HEIGHT 50.5 CM; RIM DIAMETER 18.2 CM;
FOOT RING DIAMETER 20.8 CM
INV. NO. 279
Baluster-shaped water fountain with a short
neck and everted thick rim, a flat base with a
foot ring, a spreading foot and a domed lid
with a down turned rim, surmounted by a
round finial, with a small hole for air to
escape during firing. Just above the foot a
small hole was made for a tap to be fitted.
Heavily potted on the wheel in white
porcelain and coated with a bluish glaze,
except for the base, the foot ring and the
fitted rim of the lid, where the paste turned
orange on exposure to the kiln atmosphere.
The decoration is painted in
famille rose
enamels and gold, with four rococo
cartouches each containing a Chinese archer
wearing a long, pale blue tunic, a darker blue
kimono with gilt flowers edged with white,
and red slippers, his hair caught in a bun, and
holding his upward pointing bow on his left
side. The elaborate cartouches, with black,
white, pink, green and yellow frames and gilt
details, decorated at the top with a scallop
shell and a mask at the bottom, are linked by
garlands of a variety of brightly coloured
flowers and two colourful butterflies. Below
each cartouche is a rosette, one of them
with the tap hole in the centre. The foot is
encircled by a border of linked trefoils, while
the ribs round the shoulder and rim are
painted in bright black. The shoulder is
decorated with a band of large, rectangular
green petals on a pink ground, each edged by
a white line framed in black with a gilt
geometric pattern. The rim of the lid is
green, with a gilt pattern similar to that on
the shoulder with white lozenges and, on the
dome, a large flower head with pink petals
outlined in white, encloses a smaller
yellowish florette with details in brown,
surrounding the base of the finial which is
painted in dark blue with gilt decoration.
Although the original design has not been
identified, it is almost certain that this
decoration is related to Cornelis Pronk’s
decorative style, well known in Chinese
export porcelain.
Pronk worked exclusively for the Dutch East
India Company from 1734 to 1738, creating
not only drawings of the decoration but also
designs of the shape of each object, of which
five copies were supplied to the Company in
exchange for a salary of 1,200 Dutch florins
and further expenses. 1 During the three and
a half years of his work for the VOC, Pronk
created four series of designs, identified
by the letters A, B, C and D, which were used
on porcelain manufactured and painted
in Jingdezhen. 2 Of these designs – two
different ones and four sketches 3 – the
first one is known as
La Dame au Parasol
(cats. 286-290), the second one is
The Doctor’s Visit
(cat. 291), the fourth is
The Arbour
(cats. 294 and 295), and the third
one is unknown. The latter was probably
created by Cornelis Pronk in 1736, dispatched
on the
Heeren XVII
in 1737 and received in
Canton in the summer of 1738. 4
It is not clear whether this design, known as
The Archer
, is the third one in Pronk’s series
or a different drawing altogether, inspired by
his decorative style.
The Archer
design has
only been found on fountains and their
basins, painted both with polychrome
enamels and in underglaze blue. According to
Howard and Ayers, this is the seventh
decoration to come out of Cornelis Pronk’s
workshop. 5
A similar fountain is in the Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, along with two basins painted in
those two palettes. 6 The Chinese Porcelain
Company published two fountains painted
predominantly in blue and gold, which are
today in an American private collection.
1 Jörg, 1980, p. 10.
2 Idem
,
ibid., p. 13.
3 Idem, ibid., p. 14.
4 Idem
,
ibid., p. 32.
5 Howard and Ayers, 1978, vol. I, p. 295.
6 Jörg, 1997, pp. 285-86, nos. 331-333; and also Lunsingh
Scheurleer, 1974, p. 216, nos. 122 and 123.f.
178 .
CHINESE PORCELAIN WITH WESTERN DECORATION