A Chinese armorial plate for the Spanish market (Juan Bautista de Uztariz y Gaztelu). Qianlong

The plate is decorated in the famille rose palette, with the coat of arms of Juan Bautista de Uztariz y Gaztelu, house of Echandia in Narvarte, quarterly:1 azure, a mermaid on waves holding a torch in her left hand and on the sinister a tower, in chief three wedges: 2, argent, on a mount vert a tree with a boar at the foot of the trunk, indexer chief point a seven-point mullet azure; 3 or, five water -lily leaves gules; 4. azure, a mermaid on waves holding a torch in her left hand, in chief wedges, A chief or with a cot-of arms, azure a pot or of lilies between four seven-point mullets or, Reparaz, surrounded by flags. The arms beneath a count’s coronet; joined to the shield the cross of Santiago; and surrounded by flags, standards and war trophies.

Related works

For a large study about this service, see Rocío Díaz, Chinese armorial for Spain, 2010, Jorge Welsh Books, pp. 198/205.

See also Cristina Manso Martinez de Bedoya, La Porcelana China – Su creación y las rutas de su llegada a Occidente, pp. 126/127.

An identical plate is in the Museum Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon (inv. 2060). Various pieces are in private collections, as plates and dishes, a teapot, or a cylindrical chocolate pot.

Two soup tureens with the coat of arms of Juan Bautista de Aztariz y Gaztelu have survived, one in the shape of a carp (with a different border on the rim of the dish than the plates of this service), the second in the shape of a boar’s head, very realistic modeled.

Notice

This service is probably the one that was shipped from Manila in December 1770 and arrived in Cadiz on 1st August 1771 aboard the frigate Astrea commanded by José de Cordoba, one of the vessels of the Spanish fleet that sailed the direct Manila-Cadiz trade route. Pedro Galarraga, a merchant and resident of Manila, recorded the shipment in the frigate’s register : Five (crates) number 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, with a service of four hundred and eighty pieces, and four coffee sets. These goods are to be delivered to the Count of Reparaz, to Juan Augustin de Uztariz and to Juan Philipe de Uztariz all of the Cadiz Trade. It is highly likely, given that the Count himself signed for and picked up the goods in Cadiz on 16 August 1771.

Juan Bautista de Uztariz was born in Narvarte (Navarre, Spain), on 2nd November 1728. He was the son of Juan Bautista de Uztariz y Vertiz and Maria Francisca de Gaztelu y Albirena. In 1758 he married Maria Pascal de Aristegui in Cadiz. He died, without descendants, around 1810. In 1756 he was knighted in the Order of Santiago and in 1763 he was granted the title of Count of Reparaz.

In 1752 after establishing himself in Cadiz, Juan Bautista registered a company to engage in transatlantic trade under the name “Uztariz y Compania”. In 1762 the trading company “Uztariz Hermanos y Compania” incorpored by three brothers for the purpose of trade with Latin America, acquired the Royal Factories of Talavera de la Reina that manufactured silk fabrics and fine gold and silver textiles. Count of Reparaz also act different business independently of his brothers with several latin ports. The grave risks inherent in overseas voyages brought him him in bankruptcy in 1784.

The Uztariz family was one of the most important family in colonial trade during the second half of the 18th century, not only in the larger Latin American markets, but also in Asia.