EARLY QIANLONG PERIOD (CIRCA 1740)

Details

RARE CHINESE EXPORT 'PRONK' PORCELAIN OVAL BASIN
EARLY QIANLONG PERIOD (CIRCA 1740)
Richly enamelled in famille rose colors with garlands of spring flowers suspended from scrollwork on purple, rose, turquoise and black trellis grounds, the interior decorated with four strapwork edged panels of oriental figures, the two ladies taking tea and the gentlemen smoking long pipes, on a pale pink enamel ground beneath a shell border and further garlands tied up in blue bows
14 in. (35.6 cm.) high, 25 5/8 in. (65.1 cm.) wide

Special notice

Christie's is selling all lots in this sale as agent for an organization which holds a State of New York Exempt Organization certificate. Seller explicitly reserves all trademark and trade name rights and rights of privacy and publicity in the name and image of Doris Duke. No buyer of any property in this sale will acquire any right to use the Doris Duke name or image. Seller further explicitly reserves all copyright rights in designs or other copyrightable works included in the property offered for sale. No buyer of any property in the sale will acquire the rights to reproduce, distribute copies of, or prepare derivative works of such designs or copyrightable works.

Lot Essay

This pattern, known as 'The Potentate', is one of the rarest designs amongst the group attributed to the Dutch artist Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759). Though not one of his known commissions for the VOC, 'The Potentate' relates closely in both detail and overall concept to 'La Dame au Parasol' and 'The Doctors'. It seems to be known only in two distinctive Pronk shapes, this oval basin form and the accompanying large urn and cover, one of which is in the Hodroff Collection, illustrated by D.S. Howard, Choice of the Private Trader, p. 241. A 'Potentate' basin is in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

Originally at the James B. Duke House, 1 East 78th Street, New York.

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