CIRCA 1784

Details

A LARGE RARE GRISAILLE-DECORATED 'MARITIME' PUNCH BOWL
CIRCA 1784
Very finely decorated around the exterior with a naval battle between the English and the French fleets, the men-o'-war in the foreground each bearing the Royal Ensign with numerous other vessels depicted behind them, amongst clouds of smoke from the cannons, the scene interupted on one side with an oval panel depicting a lady playing with a dog and two other figures on the banks of a river with a large building behind them within a gilt and green enamel surround, a gilt dart-pattern band around the foot, the interior with delicate grisaille and gilt floral roundel at the centre and a gilt trellis-pattern band above gilt and green enamel dots at the rim, two cracks restored
15¾ in. (40 cm.) diam., wood stand

Provenance

Mrs. Edward F. Hutton, sold Sotheby's New York, 7-10 June 1972, lot 133
François Hervouët, sold Sotheby's Monaco, 22 June 1987, lot 1558
Purchased from Cohen & Pearce.

Literature

F. and N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, fig. 2.38, p.49.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

This scene depicts the Battle of the Saints, off Guadeloupe on 12 April 1782 between Lord Rodney and the French Amiral de Grasse. It is copied from an engraving by Robert Dodd published in March 1783. One of the ships in the British fleet has been identified as the St. Albans, and this ship also appears on plates, see Hervouët and Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, p. 49, fig. 2.39. D. S. Howard believes that this punch bowl together with the service were probably made for the Captain of the St. Albans, Charles Inglis, and would have been ordered by his brother, a director of the East India Company. A bowl with the same scene in a panel was sold Sotheby's London, 27 October 1970, lot 34; this bore a panel on the other side with the inscription: 'A Gift of A Commander of an Indiaman a small but grateful Testimony of Respect to Lord Rodneys Merit and Services'. This bowl is illustrated by Geoffrey A. Godden, Oriental Export Market Porcelain, London, 1979, p. 87, fig. 12, together with a smaller bowl with similar exterior which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum on p. 233, fig. 153.

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