MID 18TH CENTURY

Details

A blue and white octagonal Pronk 'Doctor's visit' salt cellar
Mid 18th century
Decorated after a design by the Dutch draughtsman Cornelis Pronk, with a scene of three figures seated on a terrace beside a blue and white dish placed on a low table in the foreground, a fourth figure standing behind them, a peacock perched on the terrace balustrade at the other side and a parrot perched in an exotic flowering tree above them to the top, oval cartouches of fish to the base, minute glaze fritting
7.5 cm. wide

Special notice

Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €5,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €400,001. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Lot Essay

Commissioned in 1735, 'The Doctors' Visit to the Emperor' is the second design drawn by Cornelis Pronk for the Dutch East India Company, the first being 'La Dame au Parasol' in 1734. Due to the expense of transferring the subject onto porcelain, the volume of Pronk's work is small and only two orders of this design were believed to have been placed: the first was carried to the Netherlands on the Hogersmilde at the end of 1738 followed by the second order in the next year.

More from Asian Art

View All