Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Couples

Object 2010413

Teacup

China

1725-1735

Provenance: R&G McPherson Antiques, London, UK, stock number 22060.

Height 38 mm (1.50 inch), diameter of rim 75 mm (2.95 inch), diameter of footring 35 mm (1.38 inch

Teacup on a footring with spreading sides and an everted rim. The base is glazed. Decorated in overglaze green enamel, iron-red, black and gold with a European couple and their dog walking in a Chinese garden, on the inner rim a narrow diaper pattern border with four reserves filled with a flower spray. On the base a circular paper dealers label that reads 'R&G McPherson Antiques London W8, with the handwritten stock number 22060'.

Since Williamson (1927) this couple was named as such, referring to the Dutch Governor-General Diederik Durven (governor-general 1729-1931) and his wife Anna Catharina de Roo. Speculation has also led to the figures being misidentified as King Louis XIV of France and la marquise de Montespan or Madame de Maintenon.

As Howard and Ayers rightly point out, there is no proof of this identification and it is much more likely that the design was based on a print or drawing, depicting a ‘happy Frisian couple’ of Dutch tradition in a general way. They also state that both D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer and M. Beurdeley are also in agreement that the subject is Dutch rather than French (Jörg 1989/2, p.76), (Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. I, pp. 145-146 & plate 127)

Sargent suggests a depiction of a “Sailor’s Farewell”, a theme which was used extensively on Western art of all media, and consequently it was fairly commonly depicted on export decorative arts including porcelain, reverse paintings on glass and lacquer. (Sargent 2012, pp.193-195)

As it turns out, Howard & Ayers were right on the mark with their suggestion of a ‘happy Frisian couple’. In his Emden catalogue (2015), after he had made a closer study of the couple’s attire, Suebsman points out that both the man and woman are wearing clothing of the sort worn up to the mid-19th century at weddings in the Frisian community of Hindeloopen. Now but a small village, in the Dutch Golden Age Hindeloopen was a flourishing port town in which a considerable amount of trade was conducted.

Bridal couple in Hindeloopen costume, taken from Th. Melkenboer, De Nederlandse Nationale Klederdrachten, Amsterdam 2017, plate 63.

Bridal couple in Hindeloopen costume, taken from Th. Melkenboer, De Nederlandse Nationale Klederdrachten, Amsterdam 2017, plate 63.

The bridegroom has a tricorn (driesteek) on his head and is wearing a long coat with several knots, breeches and low shoes, whilst the bride sports a white net veil (witmoer). Her coat (wentke) was made not from local material but invariably from choice Indian chintz, usually embellished with exotic patterns in a brownish red. She carried her bag to the right to indicate that she was now spoken for. The dog on the plate is probably to be interpreted as a symbolical reference to the couple’s fidelity to one another.

Couples and families in similar costume also exist in the form of blanc de Chine and polychrome figures from the late 17th and 18th centuries. A drawing of one such couple is documented on a coromandel lacquer chest-of-drawers illustrated in Hervouët & Bruneau. (Emden 2015/1, p. 97 cat. 72)