PORCELAIN DECORATED IN BLUE ENAMEL AND GOLD
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795),
C. 1770-1780
PLATE: HEIGHT 3.3 CM; RIM DIAMETER 16 CM;
FOOT DIAMETER 8.5 CM
SALT: HEIGHT 3.4 CM; LENGTH 9.1 CM; WIDTH 7.3 CM
INV. NOS. 23 AND 24
Deep circular side or dessert plate with
sloping rim, moulded with two raised ribs
next to the scalloped edge. Oval salt with
shallow bowl and flattened rim on a high
foot spreading towards the base and ribbed
foot, with vertical incisions dividing the foot
into six lobes. Both made of white porcelain
and coated with a slightly bluish glaze.
Decorated mainly in blue enamel and gold, in
the centre of the plate and in the bowl of
the salt are the figures of two young men
with faces and hands highlighted in iron red
and with light brown hair, finely detailed in
black. Both are dressed in a uniform
consisting of breeches, waistcoat, coat, shoes
and stockings, and a three-cornered hat, and
they are presenting arms with their rifles.
or vessel decorated with a foliate scroll
surmounted by the monogram PFV, which is
in turn surmounted by a royal crown
composed of a tiara decorated with precious
stones with eight fleurons on top, five
visible, closed with eight low arches, five
visible, decorated with pearls and
surmounted at their crossing by the
globus
cruciger
. 1 On the cavetto of the plate and
rim of the salt, inside a double black circle,
handwritten, is the inscription ‘
Parro He
outro Ounicornio
(
Oinicornio
on the salt
cellar) 11$ õ &itc’, which means ‘Parro is
another unicorn 11 thousand ounces
etcetera’. 2 There is a border like swagged
curtains round the edge of the plate and
below the rim of the salt.
The moulded and ribbed shapes of both
these items, were probably copied from
European silver models, the salt being a
vessel entirely for Western use. At the
beginning of the eighteenth century salts
were ordered separately, but during the
second half of the century dinner services
included a significant number of salts, which
guests during meals.
The correct description of the royal crown is
as follows: tiara Or decorated in the middle
with precious stones (emeralds and rubies);
surmounted by eight acanthus leaf fleurons,
or, five visible, alternating with eight small
stems surmounted by pearls, four visible;
closed by eight low arches also or, five
visible, decorated with pearls and
surmounted at the crossing by the
globus
cruciger
.
The inscription on the plate includes the
word
oinicornio
, a variation of the
ounicornio
written on the salt and other pieces. The
reading of this inscription now presented by
João Miguel Simões, sets aside the earlier
reading of
1776 Sete Barro / He Outro
Ounicornio
, calls into question everything
that has been written so far on this subject,
and presents another theory, which could
only be fully substantiated if new
documentation were discovered. According
to J.M. Simões no date is shown here, not
1776 as has been argued, or even 1786, as he
claims that the two vertical lines represented
ARMORIAL CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN
. 113