Pair of Polychrome Plates
Delft, circa 1735
Unidentified LVS monogram marks in blue
Each painted in manganese, yellow, iron-red, green and blue with a cock perched on a rock before a flowering peony and confronting a second cock turning to look at him from the grassy ground below a large winged insect flitting above a nearby peony plant, and the rim with three vignettes of a bird perched on a flowering peony branch alternating with winged insects.
Diameters:
26 and 26.4 cm. (10 1/4 and 10 3/8 in.)
Provenance: The collection of A. Vromen, Jr., Doetinchem; The Stodel Collection Amsterdam
Literature: De Jonge 1967, p. 29, no. 26
Chinese ‘famille rose’ dish with two cocks, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period (1723-35)
Collection Aronson Antiquairs
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
The scene of two cocks on these plates was copied directly from a Chinese famille rose original, circa 1740 (left), an almost identical example of which is illustrated in G. C. Williamson, The Book of Famille Rose, London 1927, pl. XLIX. By 1725 the Chinese porcelain factories had developed the ability to produce both pink and white enamel, the basis for a palette that came to be referred to as ‘famille rose’ (the pink family), and which distinguished itself from the earlier palette of ‘famille verte’ (the green family) as all of the colors were applied in enamel paints over the glaze, using soft shades with the emphasis on rose-pink. The success of this porcelain with its elegant decoration was one of the causes of the decline of the Delftware industry in the second quarter of the eighteenth century (see Van Dam 1991, p. 100). Although otherwise pure imitations of their Chinese prototypes, the present pair of plates is missing the color pink because the enamels were painted on the glaze for a ‘grand feu’ firing, whereas the heat- sensitive color pink requires an overglaze ‘petit feu’ firing prior to the final glost firing.
Traditionally, objects bearing an LVS mark have been attributed to Liesbeth (or Elisabeth) van Schoonhoven, the owner of De Klaauw (The Claw) Factory from 1668 until 1705 (see De Jonge 1967, pp. 31-32, for a brief summary of the attribution to Schoonhoven since the publication of Havard 1878). However, since Liesbeth van Schoonhoven had sold the factory in 1705 and died in 1711, the present pair of plates, which stylistically dates from the second quarter of the eighteenth century, cannot be attributed either to her or to De Klaauw. Until further research provides a new and reliable identity for the LVS mark, the maker of
this pair of plates remains unknown.
Similar examples:
A plate with similar central decoration but a different border and dated 1752 on the reverse, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. R.B.K. 1971-4, illustrated in Van Dam 1991, pp. 100-101, no. 48. Another plate with a comparable border, from the collection of Dr. F.H. Fentener van Vlissingen, Utrecht, is illustrated in De Jonge 1947, p. 275, ill. 242.
