A SET OF SIX ARMORIAL PLATES

CIRCA 1745

Details

A SET OF SIX ARMORIAL PLATES
CIRCA 1745
In the center a quarterly coat-of-arms in colors and gilt surmounted by a winged horsehead crest and surrounded by eight smaller coats-of-arms, each named in a banner below, on the well a border of gilt flowerheads and on the rim gilt scroll-and-shell
9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm.) diam. (6)

Lot Essay

This magnificent service, apparently unique in displaying the great-grandparents' arms, was made for either Adriaan van Reverhorst (1720-51) of the Hague, a VOC merchant at Canton, or his brother Theodorus (1706-58), a member of the VOC Court of Justice in Batavia from 1735 to 52. See J. Kroes, De Nederlandsche Leeuw, no. 11-12, pp. 305-22. Dr. Kroes notes that "the level of interest in armorial porcelain was much lower (in the Netherlands) than in Britain", with some 350 Dutch armorial identified so far, and that the "much more costly tableware" was often ordered privately by directors and other officials of the VOC. He writes that "their coats of arms obviously meant a great deal to them, signifying family ties and social status."

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