Lot Essay
For a similar plate, see D. S. Howard, op.cit., p.174.
It is interesting to note that the original bill of lading for this service can be found in the British Library. It is dated Canton, 19th November 1731 and reads 'Invoice of two chests of China ware, Laden on board the ship Canton Merchant Capt. Timothy Tullie, Commander, bound to the Port of Madras and consigned to Nicholas Morris Merchant there, on account and risque of Charles Peers Esq.' It also records that the service comprised 100 plates, 6 soup serving dishes, 60 soup plates, 4 sets of bowls, 12 sauceboats and 12 salts, and cost 40 taels. It was ordered by Charles Peers of Chiselhampton Lodge, Oxfordshire whose son, also Charles Peers, worked for the English East India Company in Madras (1720-35) and also traded privately. It was he who organized the transportation of the service from Madras on to England. The Peers family at the same time ordered a famille rose service, which was larger than the blue and white service, bearing the full coat-of-arms; it was sent direct to London in 1732. See D. S. Howard, op.cit., p. 249 for a plate from this service.
Other pieces from the same service as the present lot can be found in the British Museum (a soup-plate, which was exhibited in Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics, Catalogue no.98, pp.224 and 225, and a plate illustrated, amongst others, by A. Tudor-Craig, Armorial Porcelain of the Eighteenth Century, p.120), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (two plates illustrated by Le Corbeiller, op.cit., no.23, pp.52 and 53), in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh (a serving dish), in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (two large serving dishes on loan from J. R. Peers), and in the Hodroff Collection (a soup-plate illustrated by D. S. Howard, op.cit., no.45, p.67)
It is interesting to note that the original bill of lading for this service can be found in the British Library. It is dated Canton, 19th November 1731 and reads 'Invoice of two chests of China ware, Laden on board the ship Canton Merchant Capt. Timothy Tullie, Commander, bound to the Port of Madras and consigned to Nicholas Morris Merchant there, on account and risque of Charles Peers Esq.' It also records that the service comprised 100 plates, 6 soup serving dishes, 60 soup plates, 4 sets of bowls, 12 sauceboats and 12 salts, and cost 40 taels. It was ordered by Charles Peers of Chiselhampton Lodge, Oxfordshire whose son, also Charles Peers, worked for the English East India Company in Madras (1720-35) and also traded privately. It was he who organized the transportation of the service from Madras on to England. The Peers family at the same time ordered a famille rose service, which was larger than the blue and white service, bearing the full coat-of-arms; it was sent direct to London in 1732. See D. S. Howard, op.cit., p. 249 for a plate from this service.
Other pieces from the same service as the present lot can be found in the British Museum (a soup-plate, which was exhibited in Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics, Catalogue no.98, pp.224 and 225, and a plate illustrated, amongst others, by A. Tudor-Craig, Armorial Porcelain of the Eighteenth Century, p.120), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (two plates illustrated by Le Corbeiller, op.cit., no.23, pp.52 and 53), in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh (a serving dish), in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (two large serving dishes on loan from J. R. Peers), and in the Hodroff Collection (a soup-plate illustrated by D. S. Howard, op.cit., no.45, p.67)