A FAMILLE ROSE 'POMPADOUR PATTERN' DISH
Qianlong
Brightly enamelled to the centre with bold floral sprays, encircled with a design of four foliate cartouches alternately enclosing an eagle and a fish, flanked by blossoming peony and chrysanthemum stems, lotus pods and fruits, within a narrow chain pattern band to the rim, the exterior in iron-red with trailing floral stems.
28cm (11in) diam.
Footnotes:
清乾隆 粉彩花卉圖盤

Two enamelled services and a blue and white service with this pattern are known. These have traditionally thought to have been made for Madame de Pompadour (1721-64) based on the fish vignettes, which appear to relate to her maiden name of Poisson (fish) and the eagle vignettes representing her husband King Louis XV. For an example of each of the two enamelled services see David S. Howard Choice of the Private Trader, London, 1994, no. 271, p.229 for a bourdaloue and no. 76, p.89, for a saucer shaped dish.
The palettes used in the enamelled services were particularly popular during France at this time, suggesting that it was a French order and judging by the extensive range of rare and lavish forms, they were probably private orders of considerable importance. Examples from this service are in the Musée Guimet, Paris, the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Bordeaux, the Musée de Saint-Omer (from the Dupuis Bequest) and the Musée Grobet-Labadié, Marseilles.
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General signs of rub and wear and minor firing imperfection. Losses to the enamels, some kiln residues to the glaze.