A SET OF FIVE "SOUTH SEA BUBBLE" PLATES

CIRCA 1720

細節
A SET OF FIVE "SOUTH SEA BUBBLE" PLATES
CIRCA 1720
Each showing Harlequin in verte colors on a tiled floor before a Chinese style wall, most wearing delicately patterned costume, including one with tuning forks on his pantaloons, no doubt a reference to one of the satirical sayings that often accompanied these cartoons: De Actie-mars op de tang (The march of the share values played on the tuning fork)
8 in. (20.3 cm.) diameter (5)
來源
With Cohen & Pearce, London.

榮譽呈獻

Becky MacGuire
Becky MacGuire

查閱狀況報告或聯絡我們查詢更多拍品資料

登入
瀏覽狀況報告

拍品專文

As discussed in the footnote to lot 12, the South Sea Bubble was a rampant, widespread 1720s financial speculation that led to financial ruin and even imprisonment in both Holland and England. Spoofs of the foolish and greedy investors were published in many media, often using the popular Commedia dell'Arte Harlequin to mock investor buffoonery. One influential satirical work published in Amsterdam in 1720 was titled This great Theatre of Folly, representing the origin, progress and downfall of the South Sea Bubble in France, England and Holland. Engravings of this type eventually made their way to China, to be copied onto porcelain.

The best-known series of export "Bubble" plates show Commedia figures in doucai enamels alongside Dutch inscriptions lampooning both swindlers and speculators. Another variant in verte enamels is seen in lot 12. This version, with its exaggerated poses of Harlequin, whose features have become almost Asian, was found in the Dreesman Collection, no. J-83, sold Christie's, Amsterdam, 16 April 2002, lot 1309 (a set of five plus one repeat). Others are illustrated by Hervouët and Bruneau (op. cit., pp. 216-217), who note that this series is more rare than the doucai, and "very rare to find in the salerooms or antique dealers'".