A Chinese blue and white 'herring' dish

Dr. Christian J.A. Jrg, Porcelain and the Dutch China Trade, The Hague, 1982, p. 179 notes that according to the Dutch East India Company's 'Requirements' of 1773, there existed a narrow type for a single herring and a wider version for two, and that dishes were painted with either one or two herrings for their respective requirements. A dish similar to the present example is illustrated by Jrg, idem, fig. 89; another with two herring rather than the more common one fish, is in the Gemeente Museum, Den Haag, illustrated by Dr. T. Volker, De Chinese Porselein Kast, 1954, cat. no. 238. For a single dish and a Delft prototype, cf. Howard and Ayers, China for the West, vol,I, p. 85, no. 42.
The two-herring type dish inspired a transfer-printed Spode earthenware dish, R. Copeland, Spode's willow pattern and other designs after the Chinese, p.44, pl.26.

A similar dish from the Jarras Collection was sold in our London Rooms, 13 June 1990, lot 88 (GBR 1,764).

See illustration