Sold Ceramics - Sold Chinese wares over-decorated in the West 1700-1800 - Dutch over-decorated Amsterdams Bont - House of Orange - Page 1

Object 201015

Bowl

China

1740-1750, over-decorated in the Netherlands 1740-1760

Height 67 mm (2.64 inch), diameter of rim 143 mm (5.63 inch), diameter of footring 65 mm (2.56 inch)

Bowl on footring with steeply rounded sides and a straight rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with panels filled with flowering plants, round the rim (outer and inner) a diaper pattern border, on the base a flower spray. Over-decorated in iron red, black, gold and other overglaze enamels, in the Netherlands, Amsterdams Bont c.1740-1760 with the 'Cherry Picker' design a man in a windswept coat and black breeches standing on a ladder and picking fruit from heavy laden branches and a lady and a gentleman seated on a wall enjoying a basket of fruit in two large panels seperated by two smaller panels with a fisherman by a sentry house. On the bottom a flower basket with ribbons and insects and on the sides and rim flower sprays and stylized flower heads.

Although politically the Seven Provinces were united as a Republic, the House of Orange had many loyal supporters. Portraits and coats of arms of the princely couple may not have been the only form of pro-Orange propaganda. The very popular design on this teacup and saucer is known as 'The Cherry Picker' or 'The Apple Picker'. The pattern is in two parts: the man up the ladder gathering the fruit and the loving couple sitting enjoying the basket of fruit. Although many Dutch people today insist that the subject is simply an erotic story of stolen fruit, the size of the 'cheries' or 'apples' on the trees has led others, including W.W. Winkworth, Stephan Hartog and myself to question whether they could be oranges, and whether the couple although lacking the trappings of royalty, could represent Prince William and Princess Anne enjoying marital harmony. (Espir 2005, p.165)

Litzenbug states that this design was possibly inspired by the work of Jacopo Amigoni (1685-1752), whose engravings were widely copied onto European ceramics and Chinese export porcelain. Closely related variants are known on eighteenth-century Dutch earthenware. Similar scenes were painted by Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743), Jean Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), and François Boucher (1703-1770). (Litzenburg 2003, p.165 & p.261)

Groeneweg states that in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London the same 'Cherry Picker' design - as on this bowl - is already found on a Dutch Delftware spittoon, dated on the rim "1747" and marked "MVP". (V&A inv. C.23371910).

Espir states that the design is traditionally thought to be merely an erotic allusion to stolen fruit. Another theory is that the fruit in the tree are actually oranges, and the figures are actually Willem IV and Anne of Hanover Princess Royal, and Princess of Orange.

Bowls with these combined designs executed in Amsterdams Bont are not rare in the Netherlands the quality of the decoration is not often very refined.

For other objects over-decorated with both designs, please see:

Condition: Perfect.

References:

Honey 1944, Plate 139

Goldsmith Phillips 1956, plate 60

Beurdeley 1962, Fig. 27, 28 & 29

Lunsingh Scheurleer 1966, cat. 204

Park 1973, cat. 22, 23 & 24

Gordon 1977, cat. 63

Jörg 1982/1, cat. 48

Hervouët 1986, cat. 4.23, 16.21 & 16.233

Lunsingh Scheurleer 1989, cat. 191

London 1990, lot 173

London 2002, lot 444

Litzenburg 2003, p.165 & p.261 & cat 160

Espir 2005, p.165 & cat. 13

Wallis Salisbury 2014, cat. 320

Price: Sold.