CIRCA 1739

The design, made by the Dutch draughtsman Cornelis Pronk in 1737, was the fourth and last drawing he made for the Dutch East India Company; it was sent to Batavia by the Heeren XVII in 1738 and received in Canton in 1739. See C.J.A. Jörg, Pronk Porcelain, 1980, pp.34-37 for a discussion on this design, which was also made in blue and white porcelain, and where the author says that although a total of eighteen tea-services (nine in blue and white and nine enamelled) are recorded as having been ordered, no examples are known to have survived. Indeed these saucers would appear to be particular rare, since they could only have come from a tea-service. Enamelled plates and dishes with this design can however be found in several museum collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Princessehof Museum, and the Boymans van Beeuningen Museum, and others are or have been in private collections such as the Mottahedeh collection, the Hodroff collection and the C.T. Loo collection amongst others.