A RARE GRISAILLE AND FAMILLE ROSE PORTRAIT PLATE

CIRCA 1760

Details

A RARE GRISAILLE AND FAMILLE ROSE PORTRAIT PLATE
Circa 1760
Finely painted en grisaille in the center with a portrait of Elizabeth Gunning (1734-90) standing under the branches of an oak tree, her hound at her side, the rim decorated with sprigs of famille rose flowers
9in. (23cm.) diam.

Provenance

Christie's London, 1 March 1976, lot 107

Lot Essay

The Gunning sisters, Elizabeth, Maria and Catherine, society beauties of mid-century Ireland, were each commemorated in Chinese export porcelain. Maria became Countess of Coventry, but Elizabeth made the greater matches, marrying in secret the 6th Duke of Hamilton in 1752, then marrying the Duke of Argyll in 1759. This decoration after a Gavin Hamilton portrait of circa 1752-6 which now hangs in the Duke of Hamilton's collection at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. See Hervouet et Bruneau, op. cit., p. 117

More from Chinese Export Art

View All