Sold Ceramics
Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers -
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Picart, Bernard (1673-1733)
Picart, Bernard (1673-1733)
Frenchman Bernard Picart (1673-1733) was an engraver who in 1708 moved to Amsterdam where he became a Protestant convert. Most of his work was book-illustrations, including the Bible and Ovid. His most famous work is 'Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde', appearing from 1723 to 1743. In 1708 Picart published an engraving with a short poem entitled: 'Les Pèlerins de l'île de Cythère', (The Pilgrims of the Island of Cythera). The same print is copied on Meissen porcelain of c.1730-1735 and it was possibly because of the popularity of this that orders were sent to China. (Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 2, pp.362-363)
The 'Départ des pèlerins pour l'île de Cythère', or 'The Pilgrims of the Isle of Cythera ' design is directly copied from an engraving published in 1708 by Bernard Picart (1673-1733). Sotheby's New York state that the print by Picart may have been based on a popular ballet or opera and was the later inspiration for 'L'Embarquement pour Cythère', the acclaimed painting of 1717 by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) of which slightly later engravings also were made and possibly used as sources for this popular decoration. (New York 2000, p. 112)
The original engraving by Picart has the following brief poem:
'Que ces Pelerins son heureux
Qu'ils font un voyage agreable
Amour conduit leur pas, Bacchus marche avec eux,
Quá Cythere ils auront bon liet et bon table.'
(How fortunate these pilgrims
Who make a happy journey
With love their guide, Bacchus at their side
To Venus' isle, and there enjoy her fare.)
(Vries 1923, p43), (Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 2, pp.362-363)
Cythera is a Greek island, renowned in classical antiquity for its Venus cult. Amor shows the couple the way to the boat that will bring them to the island of love. The first scholar who identified the Picart engraving as the source for this design was De Vries who illustrated the print in 1923; others have since published it as well. Several varieties of this scene with different borders and colour schemes (polychrome and encre de Chine) are known on tea wares as well as on plates and dishes. The same print is copied on Meissen porcelain of c.1730-1735 and it was possibly because of the popularity of this that orders were sent to ChinaSargent states Picart made a series of 60 prints on mythological subjects, which were printed in Amsterdam in 1733. (Vries 1923, p.43), (Goldsmith Phillips 1956, p.137), (Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 2, pp.362-363), (Sargent 2012, p.302)
Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers -
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Picart, Bernard (1673-1733)
Object 2011869
Dish
China
c.1745
Height 25 mm (0.98 inch), diameter of rim 228 mm (8.98 inch), diameter of footring 122 mm (4.80 inch), weight 329 grams (11.61 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring with a flat underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Decorated in encre de Chine, gold and a pink gold wash with a European couple in a landscape of trees with buildings on the far shore and a boat to the left. The man is poised to pour wine from a bottle into a shell the woman holds as a cup. She also holds a staff and wears on her girdle a table with a human figure. In front of the couple and pointing the way toward a boat at the water's edge is a winged amor with a stave and a torch. On the sides an ornamental border design and on the rim scalework panels, cornucopias, strapwork, and trailing foliage. The reverse is undecorated.
This design is directly copied from an engraving by Bernard Picart (1673-1733), published in 1708, entitled 'Les Pèlerins de l'île de Cythère' (The Pilgrims of the Isle of Cythera).
The rim border design is closely related to decorative patterns of Viennese Du Paquier porcelain. Unique to the Viennese Du Paquier porcelain factory was the laub- und bandelwerk border, based on two series of engravings by Paul Decker (d.1713). Continually modified and varied its essential elements were strapwork, palmettes, trelliswork cartouches, and foliate scrolls combined into a rhythmical pattern of baroque formality. Other China trade versions of the laub- und bandelwerk border, such as the more usual one with the addition of peacock and with panels of quilting rather than trellis- or scale work, are farther removed from their Viennese factory prototypes, and are perhaps derived from Hausmaler variants. (Corbeiller 1974, pp.68-69)
For other identically in encre de Chine decorated objects with the 'Les Pèlerins de l'île de Cythère' (The Pilgrims of the Isle of Cythera) design, please see:
- Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers - Picart, Bernard (1673-1733) - Object 2010267.
- China trade porcelain. An account of its historical background, manufacture, and decoration and a study of the Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, (J. Goldsmith Phillips, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1956). p.137, Fig. 44 & Plate 55.
- Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer,(Uitgevermaatschappij De Tijdstroom BV, Lochem 1989), pp.242-243.
- Fine Chinese Export Porcelain from the Collection of Angelo Castelo Branco Cerqueira Caldas, auction sale catalogue Sotheby's London, 8th May 1990, p.89, lot 178.
- Important Chinese Export Porcelain and Chinese works of art from the Collection of the late Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, auction sale catalogue 7520, Sotheby's New York, October 19, 2000, p.112, lot 254 (one of the two pieces).
- The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, European Furniture and Chinese Export Porcelain, auction catalogue Christie's London 10 April 2002, p.243, lot 470.
For other identically in polychrome decorated objects with the 'Les Pèlerins de l'île de Cythère' (The Pilgrims of the Isle of Cythera) design, 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. 2, p.362, cat 353.
- Christie's pictorial history of Chinese ceramics, (A. du Boulay, Phaidon-Christie's, Oxford 1984), p.272, cat. 5.
- La porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a décor Occidental, (F. & N. Hervouët & Y. Bruneau, Flammarion - Pere Castor, Paris 1986), p.160, cat. 7.51 & 7.52.
- Chinese Export Porcelain. Chine de Commande from the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, exhibition catalogue Hong Kong Museum of Art, (C.J.A. Jörg, The Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989), pp.208-209, cat. 80.
- Fine Chinese Export Porcelain from the Collection of Angelo Castelo Branco Cerqueira Caldas, auction sale catalogue Sotheby's London, 8th May 1990, pp.88-89, lot 177.
- Important Chinese Export Porcelain and Chinese works of art from the Collection of the late Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, auction sale catalogue 7520, Sotheby's New York, October 19, 2000, p.112, lot 254 (one of the two pieces) & 255.
- Chinese Export Porcelain in the Reeves Center, (Th. V. Litzenburg, London 2003), p.161, cat. 155.
- The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, European Furniture and Chinese Export Porcelain, auction catalogue Christie's London 10 April 2002, p.243, lot 469.
Condition: Restored.
References:
Goldsmith Phillips 1956, fig. 44 & plate 55
Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 2, cat. 353 & 354
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1989, cat. 213a & 213b
New York 2000, lot 254 (one of the two pieces)
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers -
Page 1
Picart, Bernard (1673-1733)
Object 2010267
Teacup and saucer
China
c.1745
Height of teacup 40 mm (1.57 inch), diameter of rim 74 mm (2.91 inch), diameter of footring 35 mm (1.38 inch)
Height of saucer 22 mm (0.87 inch), diameter of rim 116 mm (4.57 inch), diameter of footring 65 mm (2.56 inch)
Teacup and saucer on footrings, sligthly everted rims. Decorated in encre de Chine, gold and a pink gold wash with a European couple in a landscape of trees with buildings on the far shore and a boat to the left. The man is poised to pour wine from a bottle into a shell the woman holds as a cup. She also holds a staff and wears on her girdle a table with a human figure. In front of the couple and pointing the way toward a boat at the watter's edge is a winged amor with a stave and a torch. The teacup is decorated en suite with an orchid (Cymbidium virescens) on the bottom.
This design is directly copied from an engraving by Bernard Picart (1673-1733), published in 1708, entitled 'Les Pèlerins de l'île de Cythère' (The Pilgrims of the Isle of Cythera).
The orchid (Cymbidium virescens) the 'Lan Hua' is a motif commonly seen on fine Chinese export porcelain of around 1740.
For identically in encre de Chine decorated objects please see:
- Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer,(Uitgevermaatschappij De Tijdstroom BV, Lochem 1989), pp.242-243.
- Fine Chinese Export Porcelain from the Collection of Angelo Castelo Branco Cerqueira Caldas, auction sale catalogue Sotheby's London, 8th May 1990, p.89, lot 178.
- Important Chinese Export Porcelain and Chinese works of art from the Collection of the late Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, auction sale catalogue 7520, Sotheby's New York, October 19, 2000, p.112, lot 254 (one of the two pieces).
- The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, European Furniture and Chinese Export Porcelain, auction catalogue Christie's London 10 April 2002, p.243, lot 470.
For identically polychrome decorated objects 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. 2, p.362, cat 353.
- Christie's pictorial history of Chinese ceramics, (A. du Boulay, Phaidon-Christie's, Oxford 1984), p.272, cat. 5.
- La porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a décor Occidental, (F. & N. Hervouët & Y. Bruneau, Flammarion - Pere Castor, Paris 1986), p.160, cat. 7.51 & 7.52.
- Chinese Export Porcelain. Chine de Commande from the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, exhibition catalogue Hong Kong Museum of Art, (C.J.A. Jörg, The Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989), pp.208-209, cat. 80.
- Fine Chinese Export Porcelain from the Collection of Angelo Castelo Branco Cerqueira Caldas, auction sale catalogue Sotheby's London, 8th May 1990, pp.88-89, lot 177.
- Important Chinese Export Porcelain and Chinese works of art from the Collection of the late Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, auction sale catalogue 7520, Sotheby's New York, October 19, 2000, p.112, lot 254 (one of the two pieces) & 255.
- Chinese Export Porcelain in the Reeves Center, (Th. V. Litzenburg, London 2003), p.161, cat. 155.
- The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, European Furniture and Chinese Export Porcelain, auction catalogue Christie's London 10 April 2002, p.243, lot 469.
Condition:
Teacup: Poor old restorations.
Saucer: Poor old restorations.
References:
Goldsmith Phillips 1956, fig. 44 & plate 55
Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 2, cat. 353 & 354
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1989, cat. 213a & 213b
New York 2000, lot 254 (one of the two pieces)
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers -
Page 1
Picart, Bernard (1673-1733)
Object 2011515
Spoon or leak tray
China
c.1745
Height 18 mm (0.71 inch), dimensions 133 mm (5.24 inch) x 83 mm (3.27 inch), weight 59 grams (2.08 ounce (oz.))
Spoon or leak tray with hexagonal ribbed sides and a lobed rim with a smooth unglazed base. Polychrome decorated in various overglaze enamels, black and gold with a European couple in a landscape of trees with buildings on the far shore and a boat to the left. The man is poised to pour wine from a bottle into a cup the woman is holding in her hand, in her other hand she is holding a staff. The central decoration is flanked by two orchids (Cymbidium virescens). On the rim a blue enamel border with leaves in gold.
This design is directly copied from an engraving by Bernard Picart (1673-1733), published in 1708, entitled 'Les Pèlerins de l'île de Cythère' (The Pilgrims of the Isle of Cythera).
On the original engraving the woman is holding a shell as a cup for the wine and she is wearing a tablet with a human figure on her girdle. In front of the couple and pointing the way toward a boat at the watter's edge is a winged amor with a stave and a torch. On this spoon / leak tray, due to it's small size, these details have been left out by the porcelain decorator.
The orchid (Cymbidium virescens), the 'Lan Hua' is a motif commonly seen on fine Chinese export porcelain of around 1740.
For a sold teacup and saucer, decorated in encre de Chine, please see:
For identically polychrome decorated objects please see:
- Porcelaine de le Compagnie des Indes, (M. Beurdeley, Office du Livre, Fribourg, 1962), p.181, cat. 122.
- 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. 2, p.362, cat 353.
- Christie's pictorial history of Chinese ceramics, (A. du Boulay, Phaidon-Christie's, Oxford 1984), p.272, cat. 5.
- La porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a décor Occidental, (F. & N. Hervouët & Y. Bruneau, Flammarion - Pere Castor, Paris 1986), p.160, cat. 7.51 & 7.52.
- Chinese Export Porcelain. Chine de Commande from the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, exhibition catalogue Hong Kong Museum of Art, (C.J.A. Jörg, The Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989), pp.208-209, cat. 80.
- Fine Chinese Export Porcelain from the Collection of Angelo Castelo Branco Cerqueira Caldas, auction sale catalogue Sotheby's London, 8th May 1990, pp.88-89, lot 177.
- Important Chinese Export Porcelain and Chinese works of art from the Collection of the late Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, auction sale catalogue 7520, Sotheby's New York, October 19, 2000, p.112, lot 254 (one of the two pieces) & 255.
- The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, European Furniture and Chinese Export Porcelain, auction catalogue Christie's London 10 April 2002, p.243, lot 469.
- Chinese Export Porcelain in the Reeves Center Collection at Washington and Lee University, (Th. V. Litzenburg, London 2003), p.161, cat. 155.
For identically in encre de Chine decorated objects please see:
- China trade porcelain. An account of its historical background, manufacture, and decoration and a study of the Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, (J. Goldsmith Phillips, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1956). p.137, Fig. 44 & Plate 55.
- 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. 2, p.363, cat 354.
- Chinese Export Porcelain. Chine de Commande from the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, exhibition catalogue Hong Kong Museum of Art, (C.J.A. Jörg, The Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989), pp.210-211, cat. 81.
- Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer,(Uitgevermaatschappij De Tijdstroom BV, Lochem 1989), pp.242-243.
- Fine Chinese Export Porcelain from the Collection of Angelo Castelo Branco Cerqueira Caldas, auction sale catalogue Sotheby's London, 8th May 1990, p.89, lot 178.
- Important Chinese Export Porcelain and Chinese works of art from the Collection of the late Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, auction sale catalogue 7520, Sotheby's New York, October 19, 2000, p.112, lot 254 (one of the two pieces).
- The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, European Furniture and Chinese Export Porcelain, auction catalogue Christie's London 10 April 2002, p.243, lot 470.
Condition: Perfect.
References:
Goldsmith Phillips 1956, fig. 44 & plate 55
Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 2, cat. 353 & 354
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1989, cat. 213a & 213b
New York 2000, lot 254 (one of the two pieces)
Price: Sold.
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