A pair of Dutch decorated armorial plates (De Walé with Ankeveen in pretence). Yongzheng period

Decorated in the arms of De Wale with Ankeveen in presence within yellow and red scrolling foliage, beneath a crown, all suspended by a tasseled rope held by two blue herons, all above rope-tied red and green flowering branches and scattered insects.

Related works

For a discussion on the identification of the arms and the origins of the decoration, see Dr. Jochem roes, Chinese Armorial Porcelain for the Dutch Market, The Hague, 2008, no. 433, p. 509. According to Dr. Kroes, there are only thirteen known examples, in three sizes, of which this is the smallest.

A plate is illustrated by Helen Espir in European Decoration on Oriental Porcelain, 1700-1830,  2005, Jorge Welsh Books, p. 152.

One plate illustrated by Dr. Kroes was in the collection of the Chinese Porcelain Company (NYC, 1995), a large dish is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, one plate is in the collection of the Royal Museum of Art and History (Brussels).

Notice

This unusual coat of arms has often been misinterpreted. The heron arms have been erroneously attributed to the city of The Hague, more recently to the Reigersberg and Cruls families. But the lozenge-shaped shield with the three martlets are the arms of De Walé from Ankeveen, who incorporated the heron arms of Ankeveen as a shield of pretence.

Howoever, the first record of the Ankeveen arms was on this armorial porcelain, ordered by Maria Elisabeth de Walé (1691-1753), who inherited the heerlijkheid or manor of Ankeveen in 1715. She was also the first to bear this version of the De Walé arms with the Ankeveen arms in a shield of pretence.  Maria Alisabeth de Walé’s ancestor were of Flemish origin settling in Amsterdam. about 1600. it was probably Dirck de Walé who built Ankeveen manor which was sketched by Cornelis Pronk about 1750.