A Rare and Extensive Chinese Export Imari ‘La Dame au Parasol’ Pattern Part Dinner Service, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, Circa 1740 | 清乾隆 約1740年 青花礬紅描金仕女庭院圖餐具一組

Fred B. Nadler Antiques, New York, 14th February 1980

Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) was one of the most important multi-genre artists in the Dutch Republic in the early 18th century. He studied portrait painting under Dutch painter Arnold Boonen (1669-1729), and became well-known in for his views of cities and topographical drawings, which were turned into copper engravings for the book Verheelijkt Nederland (The Netherlands Glorified). In 1734, the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie abbreviated VOC) faced financial and management challenges in the Chinese porcelain trade, and subsequently contracted Cornelis Pronk to produce drawings of designs for porcelains to be made in China for a period of three years. Pronk was to produce one design per year including the painted decorations as well as the forms of the works.

In total, he supplied designs on four occasions over the period of three and a half years. Drawings for the first two designs, 'La Dame au Parasol' and 'The Doctors' Visit' are extant and in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, acc. nos. RP-T-1967-18 (plate design for La Dame au Parasol), RP-T-1967-20 (salt cellar design for La Dame au Parasol), RP-T-1967-17 (cup, saucer and dish design for The Doctors' Visit). Scholars, however, hold different opinions on the remaining Pronk designs, and pieces are attributed to Pronk based on stylistic similarities.

As the first of all of the Pronk porcelain designs, examples decorated in the 'La Dame au Parasol' pattern remained one of the most popular and successful throughout the short period of production. Due to the complexities of this bespoke design and technical difficulties posed by Pronk's forms, the production costs of porcelain in this pattern were extremely high, as much as 64,000 gilders in 1736, almost equaling the yearly budget spent on porcelain by the firm. Orders for these porcelains were subsequently reduced, and two services of 371 pieces were recorded in the present palette in 1735. In addition to the Imari palette seen in the present lot, examples are also recorded in blue and white, famille-rose, and outside of Chinese export examples, in Japanese porcelain, Venetian Cozzi porcelain and Dutch hard-paste from Ouder-Amstel as well.

While single examples of plates occasionally appear at auction, large assemblages rarely come to market. Most recently, a 58-piece service sold in these rooms, April 19, 2001, lot 201. The circular tureen, cover and stand in the present lot is especially rare; a nearly identical example is in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, and illustrated in William R. Sargent, Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, New Haven and London, 2012, cat. no. 143, pp 277-279, where the author notes that another example is in the collection of Palazzo Venezia, Rome.