Decorated in camaïeu carmin at the centre with a fishing scene, a young man standing barefoot on a river-bank holding his rod, beside two large fishing baskets below a tree-trunk with birds in flight overhead, the border with a Du Pasquier style border.
A Chinese camaïeu carmin “Le pêcheur” plate. Qianlong period
COUNTRY : China
PERIOD : Qianlong (1736-1795), ca. 1740-1750
MATIERIAL : Porcelain
SIZE : 9.05 in. (23 cm)
REFERENCE : E285
STATUT : sold
related works
“Le Pêcheur” puce plates are in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum, New York (published by Le Corbeiller, 1973, p. 41, no. 26), Museo do Orient, Lisbon (formerly in the Paulo Cunha Alves Collection, published in From East to West, p. 184, no. 111), The Musée National de la Céramique, Sèvres (published in L’odyssée de la Porcelaine Chinoise, p. 224, no. 177).
Le Pêcheur puce plates were also in important private collections as for example The Rafi & Mildred Mottaheded Collection (Sotheby’s NYC, 30 january 1985, lot 227), The François & Nicolas Hervouët Collection, Nantes (saucer), La porcelaine des compagnies des Indes, à décor occidental (1986, p. 66, no. 3.10), The Jean-Louis Binder Collection (Christie’s NYC, 25 january 2011, lot 239).
Further information
The scene copies a print by C. J. Visscher de Jonge, a Dutch engraver, who based his design on a drawing by Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651).
The print is also illustrated in M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his sons, Doornspijk, 1993, vol.II, fig.568, cat.403, and described in vol.I, p.270/71, where it is stated that fishing was a widespread symbol of amorous activity, based on the notion of the treacherous bait, with the fish trap alluding to the trap of love. See D. S. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinese Export Porcelain – Chine de Commande, London, 1974, fig. 207 for an illustration of this print, together with two plates with this design as figs. 206 and 298.
This scene is found in famille rose enamels (en camaïeu carmin),as in the present lot (the rarest pattern), en grisaille and gilt, and in polychrome enamels, with a variety of borders. David Howard suggests that the polychrome version of “The Fisherman” was probably ordered by the V.O.C., whereas the others versions, en grisaille and in pink camaïeu, with less costly rims, where ordered by private traders.
