257.
FIVE DOUCAI ENAMELED DISHES
Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period
21,3 cm diam each
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collecion.
inv. nn. 3555, 3558, 3564, 3567 (one without inventory number).
These five dishes – two with the inscription “Schijt Actien/ enwind handel” (“Shit shares and fart trade”), two others with the inscription “pardie al mÿh Actien kwÿt” (“By God, lost all my shares”), one with the inscription “wie op uÿtrecht ofnieuw Amsterdam” (“Who wants to speculate on Utrecht or New Amsterdam”) – belong to a series of six which was produced in Jingdezhen at the beginning of the Yongzheng era for the Dutch market. They are know as “Commedia dell’Arte” dishes because the portrayed personages were inspired by a Dutch novel published in 1720 and entitled Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid (“The Great Scene of Folly”), or alternatively as “South Sea Bubble” dishes. Both the definitions refer to the famous speculative bubble which involved many European countries from 1711, causing the economical ruin for many. The event had as consequence the publication of satirical books, such as the previous cited text, prints, playing cards and ceramics such as the present. It is not clear to whom these Chinese dishes were destined, but probably they were thought as a derisive gift to somebody who lost money during the bubble (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, I, pp. 234-235, n. 230, for a complete series of these dishes: the authors number at least four series with this subject, each painted in a different style, with or without inscriptions).
Four dishes from the same series are in the Musée de la Compagnie des Indes in Lorient (L. Mézin, Gargaisons de Chine. Porcelaines de la Compagnie des Indes du Musée de Lorient, Lorient 2002, nn. 24-27); another dish of the set was published by Le Corbeiller (1974, n. 18); see also the two plates in the Hodroff Collection (D.S. Howard, The Choice of the Private Trader, the Private Market. Chinese Export Porcelain illustrated from the Hodroff Collection, London 1994, p. 54, n. 25) and the example in the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Bruxelles (Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics from Musès Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Bruxelles, exhibition catalogue, Beijing 1992, p. 47).
