A rare famille rose 'Archer' cistern and cover

CIRCA 1740

Details

A rare famille rose 'Archer' cistern and cover
Circa 1740
After the design by the Dutch draftsman Cornelis Pronk, finely enamelled and gilt on four sides of the baluster body with an archer pulling his bow within a Baroque style cartouche including a shell and mask motif, divided by butterflies and insects and connected below with a dense floral garland including pink roses above four large green and yellow flower-heads, all between an iron-red, yellow and gilt leaf-pattern band round the stepped base and a green, pink and gilt lappet border within black horizontal lines encircling the neck and shoulder, the domed green-ground cover surmounted by a blue lotus-bud knop finial above a yellow and pink row of loop petals (the original small aperture for the tap filled in and painted)
50 cm high

Sale room notice

There is some retouching to the cover.

Lot Essay

This is one of four designs attributed to Cornelis Pronk for cisterns, or urns as they are sometimes called, the other three being 'The Doctor's Visit', 'The Potentate' and 'Hand Washing'. The design of 'The Archer' is only known on a small group of vessels including urns and basins in different sizes decorated in coloured enamels or in underglaze blue and gilt. For an example of each, cf. Chinese Ceramics in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Christian J.A. Jörg in collaboration with Jan van Campen, 1997, p.285-286, pl.331-333.
See also Pronk Porcelain, C.J.A. Jörg, 1980, no.52; Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chine de Commande, 1974, no.123; and Howard and Ayers, China for the West, p. 294-295. An Imari cistern with the 'Hand Washing' was sold in our Rooms, London, lot 27, 6-11-95.

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