Full title: A Chinese famille rose 'arbor' plate after a design by Cornelis Pronk, Qianlong

Description:

Dia.: 23 cm

Provenance: The Charles Van Herck collection

According to Christiaan Jorg, the decoration on this piece corresponds to the fourth and last of Cornelis Pronk's designs for the Dutch East India Company, The Arbour, finished in 1737, sent to Batavia in 1738, and received in Guangzhou in 1739. Chinese potters made six dinner services comprising 371 pieces, and eighteen tea sets using this design, painted both in underglaze blue and polychrome enamels and sent to Holland in 1740.

The arbour in this design is a topiary version of an architectural garden arch, a decidedly western form. In 1730, Pronk executed a watercolour of such a structure, which he based on the Cholon pavilion in the park that surrounds Bosch en Hove, an estate near Haarlem.

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