CIRCA 1750

Details

A FAMILLE ROSE 'DON QUIXOTE' PLATE
CIRCA 1750
Brightly enamelled at the centre with Don Quixote holding a lance and wearing full blue armour and a puce cloak seated astride his horse, Rosinante, with Sancho Panza holding the bridle and two women, watching from behind a tree to one side, the border with four grisaille vignettes with landscapes alternating with birds among trees, each enclosed within a narrow gilt scroll border
9 in. (23 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Purchased from The Chinese Porcelain Company.

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

This is the second of two services made in Chinese porcelain with this scene. The earlier service of circa 1742 faithfully copies an engraving by J. Folkema of circa 1741 which is after an engraving by B. Picart, which in turns copies a painting by C. Coypel. However, the enamelling on the present service is clearly an interpretation by the Chinese artist of the earlier service: he has omitted Sancho Panza's kneeling donkey; Don Quixote's hat has been transformed from a barber's bowl in the earlier service to a black hat in this one; and the landscape is rather typically Chinese. Another plate from the present service is illustrated by Howard and Ayers, China for the West, London and New York, 1978, vol.II, no.344; and by D. Howard, The Choice of the Private Trader, London, 1994, no.85, pp.94 and 95. See also the identical plate from the collection of Dr Anton C R Dreesman, formerly in the Hervouët collection, sold in these rooms, 10 April 2002, lot 451.

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