A Dutch-decorated teabowl and saucer
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A Dutch-decorated teabowl and saucer

MID 18TH CENTURY

Details
A Dutch-decorated teabowl and saucer
MID 18TH CENTURY
Decorated with a scene of 'The Bull's Cruelty', after a Dutch print, depicting a farmer and his wife attacked by a bull, the farmer lying on the ground, wounded, and his wife thrown up in the air giving premature birth to a baby which falls to the ground together with her shoes, windmills and a boy flying a kite on the right and a church on the left, the base inscribed 1647 den 29 augustus, minute hairline crack and chip
Provenance
Anonymous sale; Christie's, Amsterdam, 8 april 1987, lot 356 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. J-134).
The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection; Christie's, Amsterdam, 16 April 2002, lot 1318.
Special notice
Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 23.205% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €110,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €110,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 23.205% of the first €110,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €110,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

Lot Essay

The drama took place in Zaandam on 29th August, 1647, when a woman rushed to her husband who was being thrown in the air because of a bull who was probably startled by a boy flying a kite. The wife gave birth to her son in mid air and both fell on the ground. The parents died directly after the drama and the child survived but died nine months later. The family is buried in the 'Bullenkerk' or Westzijderkerk Zaandam, where the painting (dated 1737), which was the example for the decoration of this cup and saucer, hangs as well together with a poem 'Des Stiers Wreedheyt' which describes the incident.
See D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinese Export Porcelain - Chine de Commande, London, 1974, ill. 358 for a plate in the Zaanlandse Oudheidskamer, Zaandijk; and Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; and for the whole group with this subject see: Hervouët et Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, pp. 380-381 pls. 16.50-16.54

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