Lot Essay
See C. Jörg, op.cit., p.175 for a discussion on the history of identifiable 'special commission Chinese export porcelain' figure models. In 1746 a request from the ruling Council of the Dutch East India Company in Holland to their South East Asian administrative headquarters in the fortified city of Jakarta (Batavia), the so-called 'Requirements'', read: "Cows, each pair with head facing each other, white grounds, some with brown, some with blue spots, according to sample." In 1747, one hundred and twenty pairs of cows were sent back to Holland as part of VOC cargoes. See the similar pair of cows in the Copeland Collection, Peabody Museum, Salem, illustrated by W.R. Sargent, op.cit., p.228, no.111 and colour plate p.229; and the single cow in the Mottahedeh Collection, illustrated by H.D. Howard & J. Ayers, op.cit., vol.II, p.603, no.629, together with a Dutch delftware model. A pair of grey and white cows, similarly modelled to the present lot, but with floral wreaths around their necks, from the M. Bissey Collection, Paris, is illustrated by M. Beurdeley, op.cit., col.pl.IX, p.47. Other Chinese models are in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, illustrated by J.A. Lloyd Hyde, op.cit., 1964, pl.XII; and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from the Ionides Bequest.
A similar cow was sold in these Rooms, 26 July 1976, lot 135, and illustrated by A. du Boulay, op.cit., p.297, fig.11.
A similar cow was sold in these Rooms, 26 July 1976, lot 135, and illustrated by A. du Boulay, op.cit., p.297, fig.11.