A BLUE AND WHITE PRONK 'FOUR DOCTORS' VISIT' DISH Qianlong The shallow rounded sides rising to an everted rim, the interior painted with a central medallion depicting four elderly figures engaged in conversation beneath a flowering tree, accompanied by a peacock, with a stool supporting a basin set before them, all within a terraced garden setting, the cavetto encircled by six cartouches, each enclosing a trio of fish. 26cm (10 1/4in) diam. Footnotes: Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 清乾隆 青花四博士圖盤 The design of this dish, known as 'The Doctors' Visit to the Emperor,' was drawn by the Amsterdam artist Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) in 1735 for Chinese painters to copy for the Dutch market. According to the inventory records of the Dutch East India Company, this type of design, owing to the high expense of transferring the subject onto porcelain, ceased to be made to order from 1740. By 1741, a total of 60 sets (comprising 371 pieces of tableware) of porcelain with this pattern had been shipped to the Netherlands. For further discussion see Wu Ruoming, 'Ming Qing ciqi shidao renwu de ouzhou liuchuan ji pulongkeshi pingmian zaixian' (明清瓷器釋道人物的歐洲流傳及普龍克圖式平面再現), Art Observation, 2021(02), pp.53-56. See a similar blue and white Pronk 'doctors' plate, circa 1738, which was sold at Christie's New York, 7 June 2013, lot 103. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing