Lot Essay
Although the design on this basin is not a known design by the Dutch draughtsman Cornelis Pronk, the shape and size are almost identical to basins on which Pronk's designs were used. For examples of these, see C.J.A. Jörg, Pronk Porcelain, Porcelain after Designs by Cornelis Pronk, Groninger and Haags Museums, April-August 1980, Catalogue no.52 for a famille rose basin from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, decorated in the interior with 'The Archer', also illustrated by Jörg, op.cit., 1997, p.286, no.332, together with a blue, white and gilt version as no.333, and by D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, op.cit., 1974, no.123; and another famille rose basin decorated in the interior with 'The Doctors' Visit', sold in these Rooms, 9 and 10 November 1983, lot 777, and illustrated by A. du Boulay, op.cit., 1984, p.262, fig.2. In the Rijksmuseum example, there is a close similarity between the decoration around the spreading foot and that on the foot of the present lot. However, a far more striking resemblance can be found on the 'Doctors' Visit' example given above and the present lot: namely the use of very bold gadroon-like lappets on the exterior of the basins just below the rims. This very distinctive border decoration can also be found in a very similar form on the shoulder of the 'Archer' urn in the Rijksmuseum, illustrated by C.J.A. Jörg, Catalogue no.51, p.82, and by D. F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ibid., no.121; and again around the foot on the 'Hand-washing' urn illustrated by Jörg, Catalogue no.10, p.33, and by D. S. Howard and J. Ayers, op.cit., 1978, vol.I, p.295, design 6.