CIRCA 1745

Details

A VERY RARE DUTCH-DECORATED 'PRINS CAROL' SAUCER-DISH
CIRCA 1745
Enamelled with a mounted prince wearing a tricorne hat and a three-quarter length iron-red coat, a sword held in his right hand, his grisaille horse rearing as they gallop past a church in the distance, the horse's blue saddle-cloth with gilt initials P and K, the underside of the dish inscribed Prins Carol in black over the glaze in the base, base crack, rim chips
8 3/8 in. (21.2 cm.) diam.

Provenance

François Hervouët; Sotheby's Monaco, 22 June 1987, lot 1724.

Literature

F. and N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, p. 389, fig. 16.85 (colour plate).

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

See Hervouët and Bruneau, op.cit., p.389 where the authors explain that according to documentation attached to this plate, the figure depicted is Charles Alexandre, Prince of Loraine, Archduke of Austria and Governor of Holland. During the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48, he fought on the side of the Dutch becoming a hero amongst the Dutch people. In 1744 he forced the armies of King Louis XV to turn back as they were about to enter Holland. It is most likely that this dish was made to commemorate this event. A very similar dish, possibly the pair to the present lot, was in the collection of Dr Anton C. R. Dreesmann, sold in these Rooms, 10 April 2002, lot 439. Compare also the related Dutch-decorated saucer-dish in the British Museum depicting King George II, whose name is inscribed on the reverse of the dish as on the 'Prins Carol' dishes, illustrated by Hervouët and Bruneau, op.cit., fig. 16.86; and by M. Jourdain and R. Soame Jenyns, Chinese Export Art in the Eighteenth Century, London, 1950, p. 125, fig. 104, where it is suggested that this dish was made to commemorate the Battle of Dettingen in 1743.

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