MID-18TH CENTURY

These dogs probably depict King Charles spaniels, and the colouring of this pair seems to suggest the Blenheim variety. Compare the almost identical pair of spaniels in the Peabody Museum of Salem, illustrated by W. R. Sargent, The Copeland Collection: Chinese and Japanese Ceramic Figures, 1991, no. 89, p. 186, together with another pair enamelled in brown as no. 88, p. 184. Another very similar pair, but enamelled in black, is in the Hodroff Collection, illustrated by D. S. Howard, The Choice of the Private Trader, 1994, no. 332, p. 275, where the author suggests that the earlier models of this type had their mouths open and tongue showing, as in the present lot, but later, in order to avoid the additional work necessary in inserting the tongue, the mouth was depicted closed. A single iron-red-decorated spaniel, formerly in the Resche Collection, Paris, is illustrated by M. Beurdeley, Porcelain of the East India Companies, 1962, cat. no. 103, where the author explains that this model could not depict one of the ordinary Chinese dogs normally eaten by the lower classes, nor could it be a guard dog, since it does not have a docked tail; he feels it is more likely to be modelled after a pet brought to China by a European. However, see D. S. Howard and J. Ayers, China for the West, vol. II, 1978, no. 622, p. 598, where the authors feel that this model was undoubtedly based on European porcelain originals.