CHENGHUA SIX CHARACTER MARK, KANGXI

Details

A pair of blue and white 'Rotterdam Riot' plates
Chenghua six character mark, Kangxi
The centre painted with a scene after a silver medal by Jan Schmelzing showing the attack on the residence of Van Zuylen van Nijevelt, chief bailiff of Rotterdam, some figures dismantling beams and masonry, others scaling ladders or spilling bales of merchandise into the street near a cannon, the rim with floral cartouches on a diaper-pattern ground, the reverse with a lotus scroll and swastika, very small chips and cracks
20 cm. diam. (2)

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Lot Essay

The central scene is taken from a silver medal by Jan Schmelzing (1656-1693) after an engraving by Gerhard van Loon. Howard & Ayers, China for the West, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 60, gives a detailed account of this riot following the execution of Cornelis Kosterman in 1690. The chief bailiff, Van Zuylen van Nijevelt, had sentenced this young guard from the Rotterdam City Hall to death in his attempt to steal some wine from the cellars for a celebration with his colleagues. Howard & Ayers illustrate in China for the West, no. 15, a severed head of Cornelis Kosterman on a funerary monument, which was taken from the reverse of the medal.

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