303.
A ‘EN GRISAILLE’ AND GILT DISH
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, mid 18th century
23 cm diam
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3328.
The main scene on this dish is inspired by a print of 1710 circa by Claude Duflos (1665-1727) entitled Femme au bain (“The Bath”), in turn based on a painting by Nicolas Fouché engraved by Benoît Audran the Elder about 1700. Differently from Fouché’s painting and Duflos’ print, in this Chinese version the scene is set in an interior.
The decoration on the rim shows analogies with the so called laub-und-bandelwerk motif which was especially used by the Du Paquier porcelain factory in Wien between 1730 and 1744.
For dishes with a similar decoration see D. Howard – J. Ayers, China for the West. Chinese Porcelain and other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, 2 voll., London – New York 1978, II, p. 367, n. 359; C.J.A. Jörg, Chinese Export Porcelain. Chine de commande from the Royal museum of art and history in Brussels, Hong Kong 1989, n. 86 (Musée Royaux in Brussels); L. Mézin, Gargaisons de Chine. Porcelaines de la Compagnie des Indes du Musée de Lorient, Lorient 2002, p. 112, n. 91 (Musée de Lorient); another comparable dish is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (inv. n. 1937-9-4); see also the similar piece in the MAK Museum, Vienna (inv. KE 5962-1) and the related dish, but with a symplified decoration, in the Museum for Far Eastern Art in Stockholm (inv. BS-2282).
