CIRCA 1740-50

Details

A GRISAILLE, SEPIA AND GILT 'THE FORTUNE TELLER' SOUP-PLATE
Circa 1740-50
Finely decorated at the centre primarily en grisaille with a gentleman and two youths beside a horse and two hounds, the man holding the hand of a gypsy carrying a young child on her back, the figures with flesh-tones and the horse and one hound picked out in a soft sepia, within a grisaille and gilt du Paquier-style border
9 in. (23 cm.) diam.

Provenance

With The Art Exchange, New York.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Although clearly taken from a European engraving, the Chinese artist appears to have become confused as to who should be examining whose palm! A very similar plate from the Mottahedeh Collection is illustrated by Howard and Ayers, China for the West, London and New York, 1978, vol.II, pp.372 and 373, no.365, where the author suggests a print after J. Smith as the source. Others are illustrated by Hervouët and Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, p.95, fig.4.41; and by Regina Krahl and Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics from the British Museum, London, Taipei, 1994, pp.166 and 167, no.71 for the Franks Collection example. A plate from the J. Louis Binder Collection, was sold in these Rooms, 17 June 2003, lot 168, together with a pair of sauce-boats with this design as lot 167.

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