An Extremely Rare Pair of Chinese Export Famille-Rose 'Landscape and Floral' Vegetable Dishes and Covers, Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng / Qianlong Period | 清雍正 / 乾隆 粉彩開光山水花卉圖蓋盤一對

Collection of a Lady of Title;

Christie's London, 17 November 1980, lot 148

Elaborately decorated and finely painted, the present pair appears to be the only recorded examples of this form and type. Dishes with domed covers were certainly modeled after European silver originals, and were utilized for serving warm dishes. Domed covers themselves are very rare in Chinese export art, a less elaborately modeled and decorated famille-rose example decorated is illustrated in Maria Antónia Pinto de Matos, The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics: A Collector's Vision, Vol. II, London, 2011, cat. no. 213, p. 53. The author notes that the domed cover form is likely the rarest example seen in Chinese export services, and these were produced for the most opulent tables in adherence to the French code of etiquette. The author further notes that there are a set of seven graduated circular dishes and covers in a private collection in Lisbon, illustrated ibid. p. 13, fig. 37.