A PAIR OF CHINESE EUROPEAN SUBJECT ENAMEL DISHES, QIANLONG (1736-1795)

拍品描述

A PAIR OF CHINESE EUROPEAN SUBJECT ENAMEL DISHES, QIANLONG (1736-1795) Each dish is of small circular form, worked in painted enamels with a lively European-subject scene within a double-line roundel. The bright famille rose palette combines pink, turquoise, yellow, green, blue and aubergine, set against a white ground and framed by a yellow-ground border of scrolling flowers and foliage. The scale is intimate, yet the composition is full and animated, with the figures occupying the well in a manner that gives the pair a strong decorative immediacy. The central scene shows a European lady seated in a garden landscape, attended by a standing male figure holding a framed mirror in which her reflection is visible. The figures are painted with pale complexions, curling hair, elaborate hats and theatrical dress, their costumes rendered in saturated pinks, blues and greens. Behind them, flowering trees, distant blue mountains, rocky outcrops and striated green ground create a stylised landscape setting, while the fine black and brown outlines give structure to the enamel washes. The borders are carefully organised, with shaped white floral reserves alternating around a yellow ground filled with scrolling ornament. Pink blossoms, purple flowers and turquoise leaves enliven the rim, balancing the figural scene with a dense ornamental framework. The reverse of each dish is comparatively plain, with a white enamel surface, recessed foot and a red seal mark to the centre, emphasising the contrast between the richly decorated front and the more restrained underside. European-subject enamel wares of the Qianlong period reflect the Qing fascination with foreign figural types, costume and pictorial conventions. Such scenes were adapted into Chinese decorative formats with considerable freedom, combining Western-inspired figures with Chinese enamel technique and border design. The motif of the mirror, courtship and garden setting gives the pair a playful, courtly character, while the repeated composition indicates that the dishes were conceived as a matched set. This pair presents a vivid example of Qianlong-period painted enamel taste, uniting European subject matter with the colour, ornament and technical refinement of eighteenth-century Chinese enamel production. Diameter: 16 cm

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