An Interesting Chinese Blue and White 'Dame au Parasol' Saucer, Qianlong (1736-1795)
Diameter: 11.2 cms, 4.5 inches
BJ10
BJ10
Further images
After Cornelis Pronk, this particular design of small size, decorated in underglaze blue with the 'La Dame au Parasol' design, painted in the centre with a scene of a lady...
After Cornelis Pronk, this particular design of small size, decorated in underglaze blue with the 'La Dame au Parasol' design, painted in the centre with a scene of a lady walking shaded by a parasol being held by her attendant walking behind her, the lady is gesturing to three waterfowl standing by a grassy bank, the background with reeds and aquatic vegetation, all within a narrow band of rosettes and flower-sprays at the well, the border with figural and bird cartouches on a honey-comb pattern ground, the reverse with seven evenly spaced flying insects.
Literature
Fascinatingly, according to Christiaan Jorg, the recognised authority on Cornelis Pronk, this saucer undoubtedly is after the Pronk drawing, but is a later, interesting mid-18th century dish, with what Jorg calls a 'ping-pong' effect. It is Chinese, based on the underglaze blue Japanese copy of Pronk's design that the Arita painter had changed by depicting two geisha's instead of Chinese ladies. In this version, a Chinese workshop took over this Japanese version.Cornelis Pronk was born in Amsterdam in 1691. From 1734 to 1740 he was employed by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which commissioned sets of drawings for Chinese porcelain. Pronk made four series of drawings over three and a half years. In 'Pronk Porcelain', 1980, Groninger Museum Press pp. 14‑36, CJA Jörg discusses in detail the four designs that are generally accepted to have been drafted by Pronk, the prototypes of which can be found in the Rijksmuseum. It is likely that the design on this saucer, known as 'Dame au Parasol', was the first to be completed, having been sent to China and Japan in 1736. It would have had a high production price, and as such only a small number of Pronk pieces were ever made.
