A pair of Imari Pronk 'parasol' plates

1736-38

Details

A pair of Imari Pronk 'parasol' plates
1736-38
Painted in iron-red and gilt on underglaze-blue with the well-known 'La Dame au Parasol' design by the Dutch draughtsman Cornelis Pronk, the central scene depicting an attendant carrying a parasol fringed by tassels above a lady, standing before waterfowl on a grassy bank with reeds, within a narrow band of flower stems, the well surrounded by figural and bird cartouches repeated from the central scene on a honey-comb pattern ground, the reverse with various insects in underglaze blue (one with rim restoration, one with frittings)
23.4 cm. diam. (2)

Lot Essay

Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759), was a designer appointed to the VOC in 1734 to 'make all the designs and models to our satisfaction, of all such porcelain as will be ordered from time in the Indies...'. Only four designs were ordered by the VOC, of which only two survived and are now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam - namely 'The Doctor's Visit to the Emperor' and 'La Dame au Parasol'. It is known that the drawings were sent to Canton in 1736 via Batavia. This pattern was executed in famille rose enamels, underglaze blue and in the Imari palette.
Cf. Howard & Ayers, China for the West, vol. I, pl. 290; C.J.A. Jrg, Pronk Porcelain, 1980, pl. 9 and 21; and Jrg & Van Campen, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, p. 282, pl. 328.

More from Chinese and Japanese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All