CIRCA 1790

Details

A RARE FAMILLE ROSE GROUP OF A DUTCHMAN AND HIS WIFE
Circa 1790
Modelled as if dancing a minuet on a waisted pierced iron-red and green enamel rectangular stand, he holding her left hand in his left, with his right arm around her shoulders, wearing a black hat, a floral turquoise coat and iron-red breeches, the lady wearing a flowered iron-red mantle, a green bodice and a pink pleated skirt, a handkerchief in her right hand, minor restoration
10 in. (25.5 cm.) high

Provenance

With Philip Suval, New York.
Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; Sotheby's, New York, 22-25 May 1980, lot 268 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. J-109).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This couple are sometimes referred to as Governor Duff and his wife; however, Diedrick Duiver (corrupted to Duff by the Chinese), who was Governor of the Dutch East India Company from 1729-31, was unpopular with the Chinese and it would therefore seem unlikely that he was used as a model.

Various versions of this group are recorded, with slight variations in colour of clothes and in height. Compare the slightly smaller group from the Mottahedeh Collection, illustrated by Howard and Ayers, China for the West, London and New York, 1978, vol.II, no.648. Another from the Espirito Santo Collection is illustrated by M. Beurdeley, Porcelain of the East India Companies, London, 1962, p.21, colour pl.V and cat.2; and a further example in the Peabody Essex Museum, is illustrated by W. Sargent, The Copeland Collection, Salem, 1991, no.106, p.220.

More from The Dr Anton C.R.Dreesmann Collection European Furniture

View All