CIRCA 1720

细节

A very rare complete set of six doucai 'south sea bubble' plates
Circa 1720
Each decorated in green and yellow enamels, iron-red, underglaze-blue and gilt with a central figure in various poses and dress on a tiled floor below a beamed ceiling amidst various two-line Dutch inscriptions, the border with a band of frond-like leaves below the rim, one plate with a rim crack and minute chip
21cm. (8¼ in.) diam. (6)

来源

With Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 10 April 1970, The Collection of Lucile and Robert H. Gries, lot 226. Anonymous sale; Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 21 mei 1981, lot 238 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. J-33).

注意事项

Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 20.825% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €90,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €90,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 20.825% of the first €90,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €90,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

拍品专文

The inscriptions read: Wie op Uytrecht of nieuw Amsterdam (Who wants to speculate on Utrecht or New Amsterdam); 50 per cent op Delft gewonnen (50 per cent profit on Delft); De Actie-mars op de tang (The march of the share values played on the tuning fork); Pardie al mijn Actien Kwijt (By God I lost all my shares); Schyt Actien en windhandel (Shares and swindle); and Weg Gekke Actionisten (Away foolish shareholders). This series of plates was made for the Dutch market, called 'Bubble' plates, since they were quite likely to have been made to satirize the South Sea Bubble 'mania' which burst in 1720, in order to warn Dutch speculators not to set up a similar company in Holland. Three other series with slight variations are known, two of which, in iron-red and gilt, can be dated to between 1725 - 1735 (see following lot). The series is also frequently known as 'Commedia dell'Arte' plates, although not all the figures depicted can be identified. Some people refer to the series as 'The Great Scene of Folly' and believe it ridiculed the shareholders of the Dutch East India Company. However it is generally agreed that the series was created as a satirical attack on the financial world of the first quarter of the 18th century. (see D. Howard and J. Ayers, China for the West, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 234 and 235 for a discussion of the background to these plates, and pl. 230 and figs. 230a and 230b for a series of six plates in the Mottahedeh Collection. Also a similar set of plates illustrated by F. et N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental., Paris, 1986, pls. 9.55-9.60 and fig. 9.54; a set of three illustrated by D. F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinese Export Porcelain - Chine de Commande. London, 1974, figs. 254,256 and 258; and a set of five included in the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, 1989-90 Exhibition, Catalogue, no.34, pp. 116 and 117). A similar series of six plates was sold at Christie's, Amsterdam, 23 October 1986, lots 130 -135; another series at Christie's, Amsterdam, 15 October 1990, lot 142; and one at Christie's, London, 7 April 1997, lot 89.