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CHINESE PORCELAIN WITH WESTERN DECORATION
. 227
319.
PLATE
PORCELAIN DECORATED IN
FAMILLE ROSE
ENAMELS
AND GOLD
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736–1795),
CA. 1740
HEIGHT 2.5 CM; RIM DIAMETER 22.5 CM
INV. NO. 619/3
This plate belongs to the same series as the
two previous ones and was inspired by
Francesco Albani’s third painting
(1578-1661), symbolically depicting Water.
According to his own words, addressed to his
patron, this image is an attempt to capture
the moment when fountains and streams
flow into rivers and rivers flow into the sea.
The artist painted Galatea, a symbol of the
foam forming on the water’s surface, sitting
on a large shell on a stormy sea, surrounded
by
putti
, nymphs and tritons, evoking the
advantages brought by the riches of rivers
and the sea: fishing, pearl fishing and coral
gathering. 1
Similar plates, symbolically depicting Water,
are in the Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire,
Brussels, 2 the Musée de la Compagnie des
Indes, Lorient, 3 the former collection of
Ambassador Décio Moura, 4 the Elinor and
Horace Gordon Collection, USA 5 and the
Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico. 6 Another
similar plate was published by Hervouët and
Bruneau. 7
This decorative theme has also been
identified on pieces from tea sets: a covered
milk jug, the pattern bordered by a gold
band, in the Chazen Museum of Art,
Madison, Wisconsin; 8 a teacup and a saucer
dish in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur
Museum, Delaware; 9 and a teapot illustrated
by Jorge Welsh. 10
1 Hervouët and Bruneau, 1986, p. 319, no. 13.94.
2 Jörg, 1989, pp. 176-77, no. 64.
3 Mézin, 2002, p. 86, no. 68.
4 Veiga, 1989, p. 123, no. 92.
5 Gordon, 1978, p. 61, no. 46 left.
6 México, 2002, pp. 41-83, cat. 12.
7 Hervouët and Bruneau, ibid.
8 Brawer, 1992, p. 102, no. 76.
9 Jorge Welsh, 2005, p. 208, no. 53.
10 Idem, ibid., pp. 208-09.
Figure 62.
‘L’Eau’,
engraving by Nicolas Dauphin de Beauvais
(1687-1763).
First quarter of the eighteenth century.
© Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cabinet des
estampes, Paris