AN IMPORTANT BLUE AND WHITE 'PRONK' LARGE OVAL BASIN

CIRCA 1738

細節

AN IMPORTANT BLUE AND WHITE 'PRONK' LARGE OVAL BASIN
circa 1738
The bulbous body with a slim shoulder below the wide flaring rim and supported on a spreading foot, the exterior finely painted in a strong blue at two sides with the well-known 'Doctor's Visit' design by the Dutch draughtsman Cornelis Pronk, comprising four figures grouped around a game board, divided at either end by wading birds among reeds and flowering trees, between a scale-pattern band at the spreading foot and a similar band above the shoulder reserved with four small goose medallions, the wide flaring rim with descending lappets, the interior painted at the centre with an oval medallion enclosing three overlapping fish, the rim with six similar fish cartouches divided by stork and geese among reeds, some restoration to rim
26 in. (66 cm.) wide

拍品專文

Commissioned in 1735, 'The Doctor's Visit to the Emperor' is the second design drawn by Cornelis Pronk for the Dutch East India Company, the first being 'La Dame au Parasol' in 1734. Due to the expense of transferring the subject onto porcelain, the volume of Pronk's work is small and only two orders of this design were believed to have been placed: the first was carried to the Netherlands on the Hogersmilde at the end of 1738, followed by the second order in the next year. A simplified version of the design, which excludes the standing man, was sent to Canton in 1739. See C.J.A. Jrg, op.cit., 1980, pp.26-31 for a discussion on this design.

Two basins, for use with large urns decorated with Pronk's design 'The Archer' are in the Rijksmuseum, illustrated by Christian J. A. Jrg, op.cit., 1997, nos. 332 and 333, where the author notes that "Basins of this shape were used in conjunction with an urn for hand-washing or to cool wine".