A famille rose helmet-shaped 'european subject' ewer

QIANLONG

Details

A famille rose helmet-shaped 'european subject' ewer
Qianlong
Modelled after a European silver original, enamelled below the spout with a roundel containing two dogs running towards a couple of birds above a vessel filled with water, the inner rim encircled with a sepia and gilt border of small leaf-shaped lappets suspending a beaded garland
12.6 cm. high

Lot Essay

Although these silver-shaped ewers are well known in famille verte, it is much rarer to find this essentially Hugenot metal shape executed in famille rose. See Christopher Hartrop, The Hugenot Legacy, English Silver 1680-1760, pp. 402-404, no. 106 for an English silver ewer of circa 1696-7, where the author mentions that this form is taken from a French silver prototype of the 1680's.

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