CIRCA 1740

Chinese porcelain with this design, almost certainly made for the Dutch market, can be found decorated in both underglaze blue with gilt and in famille rose enamels. This and other closely related patterns were probably inspired by a botanical drawing by the Dutch-Swiss botanist, Marie Sybille Merian (1646-1717), who travelled extensively to the Dutch West Indies and who made drawings for a book first published in Holland in 1705, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium. It has also been suggested that the border design, and indeed the flowers, are related to designs by Cornelis Pronk, a Dutch draughtsman working for the Dutch East India Company during this period. For an enamelled example, see C.J.A. Jorg, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1997, p. 287, no. 334; for another in the Hodroff Collection, see D.S. Howard, The Choice of the Private Trader, p. 78.