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Hi all,
I would like to share my newest find! It is an unrecorded Chinese export porcelain plate after an engraving, decorated in a continuous en grisaille scene with a gilt border. There has been some discussion as to whether it is Chinese or English porcelain, but I've reached out to three different Chinese export porcelain dealers, and the consensus is Chinese c.1800-1820. Luckily, I also have the benefit of having a comparison Chinese export armorial with the same exact size (7 and 9/16ths of an inch) and shape, but I'm open to other thoughts. Here are photos of the plate:
After looking at hundreds of 18th c. engravings, I finally found the source engraving. It is called "Seat of the Rt. Hon. Welbore Ellis, at Twickenham in Middlesex" by William Watts, dated to 1782: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:36454 . Interestingly, the house is known as Pope's Villa, the residence of Alexander Pope until his death in 1744, when it subsequently passed on to the Stanhope family (which Welbore Ellis married into). The body of water is the River Thames. It was honestly so much fun trying to find the source engraving for this.
One interesting thing about the decoration is that the house, clouds, and landscape are fairly faithful to the source engraving. The artist made an effort to paint the willows and the pine trees differently. However, there are elements omitted like the animals in the foreground and background and a couple of boats. The most striking difference is the transformation of the four riverboats at the bottom right into the single river barge on the plate. This is likely the biggest hint that it was painted by a Chinese hand, as it has a woven bamboo segmented top, which is characteristic of the Chinese riverboats on the Pearl River, rather than European riverboats on the River Thames! You'll see many of the Hongs at Canton paintings showing these types of vessels. Also, Howard in China for the West notes that Chinese decorators were notoriously bad at depicting the rigging of sails. Perhaps the Chinese decorator saw the confusing mass of cables and ropes on the foreground of the source engraving and opted for what was more comfortable to them.
So far this is the only plate known with this decoration (as far as I know), and it is unknown who would've ordered such a plate. The Stanhope and Ellis families do not have recorded Chinese export armorial services in CAP I or II, so research is ongoing. Although, I suspect it was ordered by a fan of Alexander Pope or Pope's Villa. Apparently, there are over 55 different pieces of art on various media displaying Pope's Villa throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
Thanks for looking,
John
My first impression was that it looked exactly like an engraving of an English Georgian house on a chinese plate. Great research you have done to find out where it is! What an interesting plate! I have not seen one like that before. It is very nice - congratulations!
Impressive research - I can see a book in the making, maybe with a title including the word "adventures"!
Regards and Happy New Year,
John
John, congratulations and I enjoyed reading your excellent research. Welbore, imagine what Charles Dickens could have made of a character with that name. I imagine Welbore Ellis was not bored and had an interesting life, something else to learn. I'm going to Google now, thank you. Sharon
@julia Thank you, Julia! I had the same first impression - It helped expedite the research process in hunting for the source engraving. It was such a thrill once I found it. I hope this will be the first of many that I'll be able to identify source prints/engravings for! 😀
@jjytlee Thank you, John! I appreciate the kind words. Happy New Year to you as well. To write a book is definitely the long-term goal here with my little collection. Although, I've given permission for this plate to be in another publication. I'll update here if it works out!
@bartholin Well if I have the right one, he was British Secretary of the Navy (right in your wheelhouse) and Secretary for the Colonies (that was us) only for a few months before the Colonies were lost. I imagine there will be much more to find out other than his Wikipedia page, no, not a boring life.
Congratulations, John! Very interesting. Don't let the V&A get ahold of it; you might never get it back. 😉
My partner - an archiectural historian - tells me Pope was one of the first promoters of suburban living, not liking the politics city life. He was alienated from the court and Westminster and so chose a beautiful spot on the Thames as his primary residence, not far from Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill.
The techniqe of the plate definitely looks Chinese to my (novice) eye.
Regards,
Steve
@bartholin Thanks for sharing. What a cool thing to source the original engraving! It seems like a special plate with interesting historical associations. You have really become an amazing export and armorial researcher! In your write up you mentioned the way the Chinese export painters sometimes took shortcuts in how they did ship rigging, which is true, but it brought to my mind the piece I have been planning to share here for awhile and this now seems like a good time, as it is an example of perhaps a more rare occurrence when a bit more care was put into the depiction of the sophistication of a ships rigging. I don't know if it is technically accurate or not, as I'm not a sailor (though I do cuss like one on a regular basis) but I have only seen one other example that rivals this one in the fineness of detail. They are usually as you noted, a bit more clunky and less crisply done. At any rate, I have a feeling you will appreciate this one, so here you go:
John, what a great find, and even better research. On first glance I too immediately thought of a Georgian print. The two clumps of trees seeming to floating just off shore, my mind thought, a bit of Georgian landscape gardening, the well to do Georgian just loved to do that sort of thing. Then I thought, it’s more in the style of Chinese landscape painting with clumps of trees seeming floating in the mists.
The Yale link does not indicate a size of the original print but if larger was probably part of a folio of grand homes.
Ron
@sharonp Yes, I think that is the right one! There are a few founding father documents that discuss him, which I've added to my reading list. He married the eldest daughter and heir of the Stanhope family, which is how he came into Pope's Villa. Certainly a lot of interesting stories to dig up!
@steve Thank you, Steve! Don't worry - I now have a vice grip on my new plate. I couldn't justify the European river barge fitting into my maritime China trade theme, but the interesting resemblance to Chinese river boats along the Pearl River and their significance on China trade pieces now fit in my view (barely?)
That is very interesting your partner is an architectural historian by the way. Definitely, something I've always wanted to look into. I almost took a historic preservation seminar, but it never fit into my schedule. You must hear a ton of fun facts!
Also, I've opened up my mailbox for the first time in weeks yesterday and received your very kind letter. I am so glad you enjoyed the cups! 😀 It was the first letter I've received like that, so I will treasure it.
Yo, do you know what you've found?? That is a $5,000 mug at minimum. That is a real treasure. It is rare to find one so detailed and even rarer to find one with an American flag (most sought after). I had half a mind to send you an email about it but I know I can't afford it at the moment even if it were for sale. If you're interested in selling it, I can refer you to a couple of people that might be interested. I might be geeking out a bit too much on the price, but seriously, look at this one:
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5648150
Many ship documents brought to Canton by Western traders included a small engraving of a ship, which were often used as the source prints for these, and is why they're always shown from the port or starboard side rather than in perspective (plus few pieces show perspective).
@ronm Thank you for your very interesting observation of the floating trees! That is something that I was confused about and chalked it up to simple omissions. I was not aware that is something seen on Chinese landscape paintings. I'm going to look more into that. Your hunch on the source engraving is correct too. It was part of a larger publication titled "The Seats of the Nobility and Gentry in a Collection of the Most Interesting Views".
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