CIRCA 1745-50

This scene illustrates a fable by La Fontaine, but the image of the peasant has been omitted in this version. A very similar plate from the Muse Guimet is illustrated by M. Beurdeley, Porcelain of the East India Companies, 1962, p. 62, fig. 41. The author also illustrates the engraving by Larmessin, itself after a drawing by Vleugels, from which the subject is derived, as fig.42. See also another similar plate illustrated by F. and N. Hervout and Y. Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes Dcor Occidental, 1986, fig.9.12, p.198, together with a plate depicting a more accurate version of the fable, fig. 9.11, showing the peasant surprising the gallant couple from the branches of a tree.