Of canted square form decorated in famille rose enamels, with a central scene depicting a European male figure dressed in a grey coat with blue lapels, pink trousers and long white socks, with black shoes, over his shoulders a long red cape inlaid with yellow fabric, he is holding a ball with a cross, to his left a small boy is hiding behind him, wearing a pink jacket, blue shorts and yellow socks with black shoes, to the right another small boy, dressed in a yellow jacket, pink cumber-band, red socks and black shoes, is approaching with a blue tray of food, in the background a domed pillar and walls with a window, tree branches scattered on the ground which is painted in green, the scene bordered by four cartouches of flower sprays in between black stylised flower sprays, the everted rim with a further border of a brown and white diamond pattern in a honeycomb pattern on a yellow background, holding four cartouches also with yellow background of stylised dragons drawn in brown, each corner of the border with blue and white fan cartouches; the reverse with four cartouches of different flower sprays on a white ground in between a honey comb pattern in green, red and blue enamels, in the centre of the reverse a painting of a blue circular stylised phoenix head, the footrim raised.
Literature
See Howard & Ayers, China for the West vol.II (London and New York, 1978), pl.659, for three similar examples of 18th century Canton enamel trays which Howard dates to 1740-1755. These were exhibited 1969-70 at the New York Chinese Institute (Chinese Painted Enamels, cat.33).
