A blue and white Pronk 'Arbour' plate

Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759), was a designer appointed to the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1734, 'to make all the designs and models to our satisfaction, of all such porcelain as will be ordered from time in the Indies...' This design was made in 1737 and was the fourth and last drawing he made for the VOC. It was sent to Batavia by the Heeren XVII in 1738 and received in Canton in 1739. See C.J.A. Jrg, Pronk Porcelain, pp 34-37 for a discussion on this design; ibid, colour pl. IX and cat. no. 48 for a similar example in the Groninger Museum. Jrg explains that the earlier designs are reported to have 'proved quite expensive and for this reason they did not dare to have the whole quantity made as had been requested'. It was probably for this reason that this design was only made in underglaze-blue and white, and in famille rose enamels.
See also Howard & Ayers, China for the West, vol. I, p. 301, no. 295.