CIRCA 1738

Details

A blue and white 'Doctor's Visit' beaker vase
Circa 1738
The cylindrical neck painted with the well-known design by Cornelis Pronk, three figures seated around a Ming dish on a low table with a fourth figure gesturing up at a bird perched in an overhanging branch beside a peacock on the terrace balustrade, the flaring brown-edged rim with a pendant pointed lappet border painted with a diaper pattern on a blue ground, restored rim
28 cm. high

Special notice

Christie's charge a buyer's premium of 20% (VAT inclusive) for this lot.

Lot Essay

Commissioned in 1735, 'The Doctor's 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. A simplified version of the design, which excludes the standing man, was sent to Canton in 1739. See C.J.A. Jörg, Pronk Porcelain, Groninger Museum, 1980, p. 26-31 for a discussion on this design.

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