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Merian, Maria Sybille (1647-1717)
Merian, Maria Sybille (1647-1717)
German/Dutch botanist Maria Sybille Merian (1647-1717) worked as a botanical artist. She published collections of engravings of plants in 1675, 1677 and 1680. She collected and observed live insects and created detailed drawings to illustrate insect metamorphosis. In 1699 the city of Amsterdam sponsored Merian to travel to Surinam were she made sketching of local animals and plants. In 1701 malaria forced her return to Holland, in 1705 she published a book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium about the insects of Surinam.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers -
Page 1
Merian, Maria Sybille (1647-1717)
Object 2012081
Dish
China
1740-1750
Height 42 mm (1.65 inch), diameter of rim 356 mm (14.01 inch), diameter of footring 207 mm (8.15 inch), weight 1,245 grams (43.92 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, flat underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Decorated in polychrome enamels with two flowers, one an iris, the other possibly a peony variant, a butterfly and two caterpillars within an underglaze blue band with a decorative pattern in gold. On the sides intertwined floral and foliate scrolls. On the reverse peony sprays alternating with butterflies in flight.
Botanical gardens were first developed in Italy in the sixteenth century, a time of considerable interest in identifying, categorizing, and illustrating plants, primarily for use as a resource for medical studies. During the early period of international sea trade, many books and prints were published of new, exotic flora discovered by traders, and many of the plants were brought back to Europe from Pacific islands and Asia. During the eighteenth century, albums of botanicals painted by Chinese and Indian artists were created and many European gardens became primarily devoted to the display and propagation of these and other ornamental plants.
The print source from which the flowers at the center of this plate were derived is the published work of Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). Born in Germany and educated in Holland, she voyaged in 1698 to Surinam, where she collected specimens and prepared illustrations first published in Holland in 1705 as Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, and in France in 1771 as Histoire Generale des insectes de Surinam et de toute l'Europe. Four separate engravings from the third volume of her Raupenbuch (Caterpilar Book), published posthumously in 1717, were used to compose the illustration on this plate (and those on a blue and white version as well). The particular caterpillar (Cerura vinula) on the anemone is from plate 39, depicted on a willow branch, with its chrysalis, in the book. Other elements of this design were derived from plates 20, 28 and 34. (Sargent 2012, p.245 & Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 1, pp.304-305, cat. 334)
There are a number of dishes, plates and saucers with this pattern, mostly in underglaze blue, rarely in polychrome enamels. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.287, cat. 334)
Painted to special order during the same period as pieces designed by Cornelis Pronk. Almost certainly for the Dutch Market. (Howard 1994, p.78, plate 60)
For an identically in "Merian-style" decorated dish, please see:
For identically 'Merian' dishes, decorated in polychrome enamels, please see:
- China for the West. Chinese Porcelain and other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, (D.S. Howard & J. Ayers, Philip Wilson Publishers for Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, London 1978), vol. 1, p.304, cat. 298.
- Christie's pictorial history of Chinese ceramics, (A. du Boulay, Phaidon-Christie's, Oxford 1984), p.233, cat. 15.
- The Choice of the Private Trader. The Private Market in Chinese Export Porcelain illustrated from the Hodroff Collection, (D.S. Howard, Zwemmer, London, 1994), p.78, cat. 60.
- Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Ming and Qing Dynasties, (C.J.A. Jörg in collaboration with J. van Campen, Philip Wilson in association with The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, London 1997), p.287, cat. 334.
- The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, European Furniture and Chinese Export Porcelain, auction catalogue Christie's London 10 April 2002, p.217, lot 416.
- Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, (W.R. Sargent, Salem, Massachusetts, 2012), p.245, plate 120.
Condition: Restored.
References:
Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 1, cat. 334
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1982, cat. 51
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 334
Jcacob-Hanson 2000, pp.174-183, Pl.VII
Sargent 2012, p.183 & cat. 120
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers -
Page 1
Merian, Maria Sybille (1647-1717)
Object 2011359
Dish
China
c.1740
Height 26 mm (1.02 inch), diameter of rim 262 mm (10.31 inch), diameter of footring 145 mm (5.71 inch)
Dish on footring, flat underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Decorated in underglaze blue and gold with two flowers, one iris the other possibly a peony variant encircled by a decorative border in underglaze blue with flower heads in gold. On the sides and rim intertwined floral and foliate scrolls.
German/Dutch botanist Maria Sybille Merian (1647-1717), described the insects of the West Indies, Surinam in particular. For the central decoration on this specific dish, no matching print of her has been found. The intertwined floral and foliate scrolls decoration on the sides make that this dish can be categorised as a "Merian-style" dish.
Sargent states that with regard to the polychrome enamel "Merian" dishes, four separate engravings from the third volume of Maria Sybille Merian's Raupenbuch (Caterpillar Book), published posthumously by her daughter in 1717, were used to compose the illustration on this plate and those in blue and white as well. (Sargent 2012, p.245)
For an identically in "Merian-style" decorated dish, please see:
For similar "Merian" dishes, decorated in polychrome enamels, please see:
- China for the West. Chinese Porcelain and other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, (D.S. Howard & J. Ayers, Philip Wilson Publishers for Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, London 1978), vol. 1, p.304, cat. 298.
- Christie's pictorial history of Chinese ceramics, (A. du Boulay, Phaidon-Christie's, Oxford 1984), p.233, cat. 15.
- The Choice of the Private Trader. The Private Market in Chinese Export Porcelain illustrated from the Hodroff Collection, (D.S. Howard, Zwemmer, London, 1994), p.78, cat. 60.
- Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Ming and Qing Dynasties, (C.J.A. Jörg in collaboration with J. van Campen, Philip Wilson in association with The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, London 1997), p.287, cat. 334.
- The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, European Furniture and Chinese Export Porcelain, auction catalogue Christie's London 10 April 2002, p.217, lot 416.
- Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, (W.R. Sargent, Salem, Massachusetts, 2012), p.245, plate 120.
Condition: Perfect.
References:
Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 1, cat. 334
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1982, cat. 51
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 334
Sargent 2012, p.183 & cat. 120
Price: Sold.
More pictures of object 2012056, another identically shaped, sized and decorated, sold dish >>
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