A BLANC-DE-CHINE 'EUROPEAN FAMILY' GROUP 17th century Modelled as a European family grouped around a table which bears a bowl of bread, the gentleman wearing a tricorn hat and buttoned frock coat while the lady is wrapped in a long dress, her head covered with a shawl, both seated and holding cups, flanked by a similarly dressed boy and girl, with a pet dog and a monkey positioned before them and separated by a flower pot. 17cm (6 5/8in) high. Footnotes: Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 十七世紀 德化窯白瓷歐洲家庭塑像 Provenance: acquired from Walter van Halm, in 2005 (collector's notes) Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Liu Youzheng, Zhongguo Dehua bai ci yanjiu/Blanc de Chine, Beijing, 2007, col.pl.47 (Published) Museum of East Asian Art, Chinese Ceramics, Bath, 2010, no.23 (label; exhibited) Morley College, Ceramic Circle Exhibition, London, 2012 (label; exhibited) The Oriental Ceramic Society, China Without Dragons: Rare Pieces from Oriental Ceramic Society Members, London, 2016, pp.100-101, no.59 來源：獲得于 Walter van Halm，2005年（藏家筆記） 展覽著錄：劉幼錚，《中國德化白瓷研究》，北京，2007年，圖版47（出版） 東亞藝術博物館，《Chinese Ceramics》，巴斯，2010年，編號23（標簽；展覽） 莫利學院，陶瓷協會展覽，倫敦，2012年（標簽；展覽） 東方陶瓷學會，《龍隱：東方陶瓷學會會員稀珍藏品展》，倫敦，12016年，第100-101頁，編號59 Models such as the present lot appear in the 1721 inventory of the Zwinger Palace, Dresden, where the figures were interpreted as 'Indian'. However, a cargo inventory of the ship Dashwood (1701) described such pieces as 'Dutch familyes', and the group has traditionally, though incorrectly, been identified as the family of a Dutch East India Company governor named Duiver, or Duff. Diederick Duiver was the Dutch Governor-General of the East India Company between 1729 and 1731. This model represents one of the most popular European figure groups in Dehua porcelain. The cross on the table, together with what may be bread in the bowl and wine in the cups held by the couple, has led to the suggestion that it represents a family taking holy communion. A dog and a monkey complete the group. Comparable examples are held in the Porzellansammlung, Zwinger, Dresden (inventory 1721), the British Museum, London (acc.no.1980,0728.666), and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (acc.no.C.108-1963). Similar groups, 17th century, are illustrated by J.Ayers, Blanc de Chine: Divine Images in Porcelain, New York, 2002, no.58; R.Kerr and J.Ayers, Blanc de Chine: Porcelain from Dehua, Singapore, 2002, no.38; and W.R.Sargent, Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, New Haven and London, 2012, no.100. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing