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Hi Everyone,
Hope you are doing well.
You may have seen this plate up at Catawiki (it was featured in the Catawiki page here). I'm very excited because I
just won the auction for it this morning.
The seller says it's 19th century, hand painted. It does appear to be hand painted and the foot rim looks like it might be 19th c (note the lack of "oatmeal" color or an edge) but I'm hoping it's 18th c., like the rest of the examples of this pattern. Did they make this pattern as a revival in the late 19th/early 20th c?
What do you think? Is it 18th or 19th c.?
Thank you so much.
Take care,
Steve
Hi Steve, it’s a Nanking plate, an export pattern that was made from 1780-1820. As yours is really well painted I would date it into the late 18th century. Together with the Fitzhugh pattern these early Nanking items were of a high quality. They were the Chinese attempt to compete with English transfer printing - hand painted because labor was cheap in China.
Birgit
Quote from Gotheborg.com:
The quality of the porcelain made for export to the West is really often the same or better than what was made for the Chinese regular market, sometimes competing in quality with Imperial wares. The often-repeated "truth", that the export porcelain as a rule was of less quality because of some kind of contempt for the westerners, is a myth. However, the Chinese were of course always prepared to make porcelain of as low quality as the customer wanted.
Birgit
Hi Birgit,
Hope you are doing well. Thank you for your replies.
I'm glad you think it's 18th c. It was the foot rim that threw me off a little.
It's so strange that the Willow pattern was apparently developed first in England and then copied by the Chinese in examples like this; I guess the Chinese never put such things on porcelain before? I seem to recall some Kangxi prototypes with a temple or two. It's a fascinating example of East and West in dialogue.
The name of this pattern is problematic. An example appears on page 29 of "Chinese Export Ceramics" (2011, Victoria and Albert Museum) but it's referred to as: "...a standard range decorated with central landscape and rococo-style borders that was used in Britain and carried westwards to America." Peter told me "that's not Rococo!" when I showed him a similar plate and he's right, despite the fact that it has detailed, curvilinear decoration on the outer rim. The Gotheborg article simply refers to it as the "Willow Pattern" but that confuses it with the English transfer examples.
"Nanking" refers to the pattern with the same type of central scene but with a geometric border with uniform spears although dating from as early as 1780 as well, according to the same article.
Regarding the border decoration:
"The Spode factory in England was established in 1770. Its "willow" border is built up by irregular geometric designs clearly distinguishing it from the "mosquito" border, also called the "brocade" border, the latter having more rounded shapes, being as I see it more artistic and containing more of recognizable Chinese symbols."
So maybe "willow" or "brocade" is a better term than "rococo" for these borders.
Anyway, I could go on and on - you know me!
Hope you have a restful and peaceful holiday season!
Regards,
Steve
Hi Sharon,
It was a splurge but worth it. I love those "imperial quality" examples where they were competing with transfer wares from Europe. Such skill! They are little masterpieces aren't they?
Happy Holidays!
-Steve
A very good C18th example , imo. The naming of these plates and patterns is confusing, and may have had different meanings in different markets, UK viz a viz US , for example. I think of Nanking blue and white as the stuff made (often in the C19th poorly) for the Americans after the Revolution, with sometimes solid blue borders and slapdash landscapes. ; whereas this kind of plate I think of as mid to late C18th for the European market.
I agree that some export services made to command for wealthy clients (like George Washington) can rival imperial porcelain , but the standard pattern dishes are not there, imo, in terms of shading, detail and finesse, compared to the best C18th imperial wares..
tam
Yes, the names of the patterns can be confusing. My definition is taken from Schiffer "Chinese Export Porcelain" and Jean McClure Mudge "Chinese Export Porcelain in North America", so it might be the American definition. According to them there were three main blue and white export patterns. Variations of patterns and rims are often found.
Canton was the lowest painting quality:
Nangking, with similiarities to the Willow pattern:
Fitzhugh, the highest painting quality, even more valuable in other colors than blue (but also often faked):
The simple Canton design isn't necessarily ugly as these Daoguang syllabub cups show:
Birgit
Good Morning Tam,
The book I cited earlier says that the set was a hand-me-down gift to Washington rather than commissioned for him (or at least suggests such). The details aren't as tight and miniature as the so-called 'imperial quality' but nice nonetheless.
The first example (excuse the poor quality of the photo) is similar to the illustration showing the kind that Washington owned vs an example that (I think) may have come later imitating the transfer ware details of European pieces.
-Steve
Good Morning Birgit,
Thank you for the photos and explanation.
Yes, the Canton pattern examples can be quite exact with a clarity and boldness I like. Here is an example of a covered dish I purchased earlier this year. I bought its companion, too, a smaller one; they nest. 🙂 As with most of these, the inside bottom also has a similar scene. I like the fact that they include a figure in the window.
-Steve
Hi Steve, a lovely pair of dishes. Canton fans even go as far as dividing the patterns into single, double or triple arch bridges. Your dish has a triple arch, my cups, though not visible on the picture, have a double arch.
There‘s a website about Canton ware that is a great help in dating: http://www.cantonchinavirtualmuseum.com/
Birgit
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