Pater Gratia Oriental Art

Chinese Porcelain

 

Chine de commande

 

Western Subjects 1680-1800

 

Page 1

Chinese porcelain with a shape and/or decoration copied directly from a European model is called 'Chine de commande'. It is a special group within the much wider assortment of Chinese export porcelain. There are different varieties: the Western shape with a Chinese decoration, the Chinese shape with a Western decoration, and the Western shape with a Western decoration. Such shapes often are derived from models brought from Europe. The Chinese porcelain painter also copied the Western decorations as best as he could, mostly using European prints as his model. There is an enormous variety of designs of this type: scenes from classical mythology, historical and political events, landscapes with a view of a village or town, amorous or erotic depictions, portraits, religious scenes, etc. A specific type, 'encre de Chine', with its thin, almost drawn lines of grey-black enamel, was best suited to imitate the lines of Western engravings. The designs for commande made by the Dutch artist Cornelis Pronk, in particular the so-called 'Parasol Lady', ordered in three different colour schemes are particularly famous. The VOC (Dutch East India Company, 1602–1799) ordered these between 1735 and 1740 as an expensive exception to the variety of ordinary porcelain that the Company normally bought. Commande was popular throughout the 18th century. Decorations in underglaze blue were painted in the factory; those in enamels were done in muffle kilns in Canton, especially after c.1740.

 

Chine de comande - Western Subjects 1680-1800

 

Chine de comande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 decorated objects are, if available, categorized in the following alphabetical order:

 

- Mythological and Religious Subjects 

- Various Subjects

 

Mythological and Religious Subjects

 

 - Mythological Subjects

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Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Mythological and Religious Subjects - Mythological Subjects - Page 1

 

Object 2010821

 

Teacup

 

China

 

1740-1745

 

Height 40 mm (1.58 inch), diameter of rim 75 mm (2.95 inch), diameter of footring 35 mm (1.38 inch), weight 40 grams (1.41 ounce (oz.))

 

Teacup on footring. Polychrome decorated in various overglaze enamels with a mythological scene. The winged Cupid holds a crimson heart before the goddess's Venus eyes, while she, with garlands in her lap, reaches down to folds of the gown about her knee. On the bottom a single flower spray. (Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 1, pp. 330-331)

 

This scene was most likely taken loosely from the same original, probably an European print of which the original has not been identified as a Meissen porcelain painted with 'Venus and Cupid'. In the British Museum is just such a bowl painted in the workshop of J.F. Metzsch of Bayreuth where a similar Cupid is on the right of Venus and a domed building behind her. (Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 1, pp. 330-331)

 

Although occasionally identified as Venus and Cupid, the iconography suggests that the two figures are Flora and Zephyr. Wearing a décolleté dress and a blossom in her hair, the goddess of flowers clasps a garland as the winged god of the west wind leans toward her with a single flower in his hand. A popular subject with erotic appeal that is much depicted in Western art, the scene is reminiscent of the courtesans whose excesses were part of the Floralia-a Roman springtime festival. (Litzenburg 2003, p.191)

 

An identically decorated milk jug was sold at:

For similarly decorated objects, please see:

Condition: A hairline with a restored frit to the rim.

 

References:

Howard & Ayers 1978, vol.1, cat. 326

New York 1985, lot 204

Hervouët 1986, cat. 13.58

Jörg 1989/2, cat. 75

Litzenburg 2003, cat. 190

 

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Mythological and Religious Subjects

 

- Religious Subjects

Currently there are no Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Mythological and Religious Subjects - Religious Subjects objects for sale.

 

Various Subjects 

 

Various Subjects decorated objects are, if available, categorized in the following alphabetical order:

  • Amorous
  • Couples
  • Hunting Scenes
  • Indoor Scenes
  • Meissen Style
  • Outdoor Scenes
  • Various

 

Various Subjects

 

- Amorous

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Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Amorous - Page 1

 

Object 2011987

 

Milk jug

 

China

 

1740-1760

 

Height with cover 131 mm (5.16 inch), height without cover 106 mm (4.17 inch), diameter handle to spout 104 mm (4.09 inch), diameter of mouthrim 40 mm (1.57 inch), diameter of footring 40 mm (1.57 inch), weight including cover 213 grams (8.15 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 31 grams (1.09 ounce (oz.))

 

Milk jug on footring, pear shaped body with handle, small triangular spout at the rim. The C-shaped handle is placed opposite the spout. Matching cover with pointed knob. Decorated in various overglaze enamels and gold with the 'The Valentine' or 'Alter of Love' pattern, a landscape scene with two love birds bill affectionately as they perch on Cupid's quiver while his bow lies nearby in the front an altar with two flaming hearts,the scene is flanked by a pine or breadfruit tree and garlanded curtains. Round the rim a scroll-and-shell border. The cover is decorated en suite.

 

According to Motley this is a well known pattern found on a small range of Chinese export pieces. The origins are not clear but it seems to have been done for Lord Anson in 1743 and is based on a drawing by Sir Piercy Brett (c.1710-1781) who was Lieutenant on Anson's flagship HMS Centurion on his voyage round the world. (1740-1744) Anson made Brett captain of the Centurion while they were in Canton, 30 Sept 1743, and he did many drawings of the voyage. The earliest version of this pattern has a breadfruit tree and a palm tree then appear in the centre of an export armorial dinner service with the arms of Anson. In this service the tree has garlands of flowers and many of the elements of this pattern are present: the flaming hearts on the altar, the dog, the shepherd's crook, the birds, the bow and arrows. Sometimes drawn back curtains are added which are very suggestive of an erotic voyeurism, resembling the drapes of a four poster bed. Such use of suggestive array was popular for an eighteenth century audience and would have been readily comprehensible to an educated eighteenth century eye. The use of pastoral imagery and symbolism as code for amorous activities was ubiquitous then. The Valentine design appears on its own in a number of English ceramic wares of the eighteenth century and it was used on Chinese export porcelain, armorial and pseudo-armorial objects as well. (Motley 2014)

 

Howard states that the idea for the Valentine pattern, by Piercy Brett, was certainly inspired by Anson and Piercy's stay on Tenian Island to collect breadfruit trees for the British West Indian colonies. An illustration in Anson's Voyages shows a very similar breadfruit tree an palm while other allusions are to absent loved ones. The Valentine pattern had a popularity which saw it produced in underglaze blue with hounds and puppies and with Chinese-looking shepherds in European clothes seated beneath pine trees. It was copied at Worcester and elements appear on Chinese snuffbottles and rim cartouches for a decade after the Anson's service. It became in fact part of the repertoire of Chinese workshops in Canton. (Howard 1994)

 

The Valentine design remained long in vogue; for in 1778 we still find it described as 'a burning altar, and two small doves on a quiver with a bow, and accessories' in the catalogue of a sale held in that year at Amsterdam of the stock of the porcelain-shop of Martha Raap. (Lunsingh Scheurleer 1974, p.158)

 

For identically, polychrome decorated objects, please see:

 For similarly decorated objects, please see:

Condition: Some popped bubbles of glaze to the tip of the spout and a chip with some frits and fleabites to the rim of the cover. A shallow frit to the footring.

 

References:

Goldsmith Phillips 1956, p.146 & plate 67

Beurdeley 1962,cat. 109

Lunsingh Scheurleer 1974, p.158 & cat. 295

Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 1, cat. 204, & vol. 2, cat. 355

Hervouët 1986, cat. 7.118 & 7.119

Huitfeldt 1993, p.57 & pp.110-111

Howard 1994, cat. 77-80

Litzenburg 2003, cat. 158

Kerr 2011, pp.65-66 & p.135, nt. 12

Motley 2014, p.82, cat. 61

 

Price: € 1.249 Currency Converter

 

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Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Amorous - Page 1

 

Object 2011831

 

Teacup

 

China

 

1745-1750

 

Height 39 mm (1.53 inch), diameter of rim 74 mm (2.91 inch), diameter of footring 31 mm (1.22 inch), weight 35 grams (1.23 ounce (oz.))

 

Teacup on footring, slightly everted rim. Decorated in encre de Chine, green enamel and gold with a seated young woman with a monkey on her lap. She is dressing him up like a doll. On the rim a border of panels edged in strapwork, floral festoons and foliate-scrolls after an early 18th century laub- und bandelwerk Viennese design. Round the inside rim a single concentric band. 

 

On the, now missing, matching saucer the paw of the animal rests on a small shelf to which it is connected by a long chain, this detail is not portrayed on the teacup probably due to its size. 

 

In 1722 Père d'Entrecolles reported that the Chinese were experimenting with painting in black, so far unsuccessfully. Black or schwarzlot, decoration, was also then just being developed in Europe, and in fact the German Hausmaler was putting it primarily on Chinese imported in the white, rather than on wares from the newly established Meissen factory. It must have been these hybrids that were sent back to Canton for imitation at the time of Père d'Entrecolle's letter, but the perfection of the technique and its translation into commercial export porcelain came only later, under the direct influence of the Du Paquier period (1719-1744). Encre de Chine lent itself perfectly to the copying of Western engravings in thin, black lines. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p. 273)

 

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)

 

In European iconography the monkey is a symbol of sexual desire and lust. This decoration therefore had an explicit erotic connotation and in all likelihood an amorous meaning for those who used the tea set. The source of this design which is very rare on Chine de commande, is still unknown. (Jörg 1989/2, p.213) 

  

For an identically in encre de Chine, green enamel and gold decorated coffee cup and saucer, please see:

For a similarly in encre de Chine, green enamel and gold decorated saucer with a similarly border design, please see:

For a similarly in encre de Chine and various enamels decorated jug, please see:

For other Chine de commande decorated objects using monkeys for an explicit erotic connotation, please see:

Condition: A firing flaw to the rim and three firing flaws to the inner wall.

 

References:

Corbeiller 1974, pp.68-69  

Lunsingh Scheurleer 1980, Abb. 201.

Hervouët 1986, cat. 6.63 & 6.64

Jörg 1989/2, cat. 74 & 83 

Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p. 273

 

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Various Subjects

 

- Couples

Currently there are no Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Couples objects for sale.

 

Various Subjects

 

- Hunting Scenes 

Currently there are no Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Hunting Scenes for sale.

 

Various Subjects

 

- Indoor Scenes

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Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Indoor Scenes - Page 1

 

Object 2011224

 

Coffee cup

 

China

 

1750-1760

 

Height 65 mm (2.56 inch), diameter of rim 58 mm (2.28 inch), diameter of footring 27 mm (1.06 inch), weight 82 grams (2.89 ounce (oz.))

 

Coffee cup with handle on footring. Decorated in encre de Chine, iron-red and gold with a woman wearing a half-opened nightdress revealing her breasts, hands, buttocks and legs, clipping her toenails while being watched by a servant. in an oval shaped medallion, round the rim a stylised spear-head-pattern border.

 

The decoration on this coffee cup had an explicit erotic connotation for those who used the coffee / tea set. The source of this design on Chine de commande, is still unknown. A very similar design of a naked lady seated in a chair extending her foot towards a tub into which a boy empties a pitcher is, according to Hervouët, after a print by Duflos entitled 'The Bath'. (Jörg 1989/2, p.218) 

 

Perhaps the 'The Bath' design was made by Duflos as one of a series and the design on this coffee cup was made after another, yet unknown, print from this series.

 

For identically decorated objects, please see:

Condition: A restored chip with a connected (sealed) hairline to the rim.

 

References:

Jansen 1976, cat. 339

Hervouët 1986, cat. 6.38

Jörg 1989/2, p.218

 

Price: € 399 Currency Converter

 

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Various Subjects

 

- Meissen Style

The maritime commerce scenes on the original Meissen ware were often copied from etchings after Johann Wilhelm Baur (16078-1640). Chinoiseries predominated from quite early on at the Meissen Manufactory, but from about 1730 there was a shift to depicting European settings. (Emden 21015/1, p.101)

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Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Meissen Style - Page 1

 

Object 2011704E

 

Saucer

 

China

 

1750-1775

 

Height 24 mm (0.95 inch), diameter of rim 121 mm (4.76 inch), diameter of footring 71 mm (2.80 inch), weight 78 grams (2.75 ounce (oz.)

 

Saucer on footring, spreading sides and rim. Decorated in various overglaze enamels, and gold after the style of Meissen porcelain with a European harbour with a large fortress, mountains houses, boats with fisherman and trees. On the quay two men hunting for ducks. On the sides and rim a decorative pattern of scrollwork. The reverse is undecorated.

  

Chine de commande

 

This French expression is used for Chinese porcelain, of which the shape and mainly the decorations are derived from Western examples. Decorations, often European prints (engravings) were cheap and easily brought along by ship to Asia. They were then meticulously copied on order in China, at first in blue and white, but very soon (from approximately 1715 onwards) also in enamel colours. This often-involved porcelain featuring family coats of arms – how fancy this looked on a dinner table – though all kinds of other depictions were also popular. Scenes from the Bible and classical antiquity, depictions of ships, harbours, landscapes as well as city views were all quite common too. Slightly erotic scenes were also much favoured. (The World at Home: Asian porcelain and Delft pottery held from 17 June 2017 to 10 March 2019 at the Groninger Museum, The Netherlands) 

 

The design on this saucer is a direct copy from a Meissen original, including the decorative pattern of scrollwork which is typical of Meissen porcelain of the period 1720-1740. The very detailed and refined painting, so faithfully copying the original, illustrates the craftsmanship of the Chinese porcelain painter and the quality that could be reached in export porcelain. However, Chine de commande, like this must have cost a good deal more than the ordinary enamelled wares for export. (Jörg 1989/2, p.226)

 

For an identically decorated dish, in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam please click here.

 

For an identically decorated dish, please see: 

Condition: A glaze firing flaw to the base.

 

References:

Hervouët 1986, 15.20

Jörg 1989/2, cat. 89

The World at Home: Asian porcelain and Delft pottery held from 17 June 2017 to 10 March 2019 at the Groninger Museum, The Netherlands.

 

Price: € 349 Currency Converter

 

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Various Subjects

 

- Outdoor Scenes

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Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Outdoor Scenes - Page 1

 

Object 2011606

 

Milk jug

 

China

 

c.1755

 

Height 100 mm (3.94 inch), diameter 72 mm (2.83 inch), diameter of rim 37 mm (1.46 inch), diameter of footring 39 mm (1.54 inch), weight 175 grams (6.17 ounce (oz.))

 

Milk jug on footring, pear shaped body with handle, small triangular spout at the rim. The handle is placed opposite the spout. Rim unglazed inside for cover, now missing. Decorated in encre de Chine and gold with an elegant fisherman with a fishing net on his shoulder presenting his catch to a seated young woman who is also fishing. On the rim a border of panels edged in strapwork, floral festoons and foliate-scrolls after an early 18th century laub- und bandelwerk Viennese design.

 

jacopo-amigoni-acqua (1)

 

(Engraving reproduced from: www.ghilli.it, this engraving is not included in this sale)

 

A painting titled L' Acqua' by the Venetian painter Jacopo Amigoni (ca.1682-1752) was the inspiration for an engraving by Joseph Wagner (1706-1780), This scene clearly is based on a version of this engraving. The engraving was part from a set of four 18th century engravings by Jacopo Amiconi, Allegory of the four elements, Water, Air, Earth and Fire engraved in Venice, by Joseph Wagner (1706-1780). The engravings show a gardener presenting a woman with flowers for Earth; a couple removing a bird’s nest from a tree for Air; figures fleeing a burning house for Fire and finally a scene of two anglers for Water, similar to those on this milk jug.

Jacopo Amigoni (ca.1682-1752), a Venetian painter, lived in England between 1729-1739 and attempted to set up a print shop with Joseph Wagner before both returned to Venice. Patronised by Queen Caroline (wife of George II) he is credited with introducing Venetian rococo to British royal portraiture (www.ghilli.it, Hervouët 1986, p.65)

 

Hervouët states that the design was very successful in the 18th century. Interestingly, this decoration can also be found on earthenware from Marseille. (Hervouët 1986, p.65)

 

For teapots decorated in encre de Chine with an identical scene, please see:

Condition: Perfect.

 

References:

Hervouët 1986, cat. 3.6

www.ghilli.it

www.philamuseum.org

 

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