RARE CHINESE EXPORT ESCALLOP SHELL FORM DISH

    Qianlong, c1765, after a French or English Original (possibly Lowestoft)

 

 

 

 

 

The rare small dish of shell form painted in underglaze blue and white, the center with a peony surrounded

by a richly decorated border with flora and diapered ruyi heads (or lappets), the escallop base with Wanli

diapering, lambrequin-painted rim verso; ribbed molding to top and verso of shell; small spur feet verso.  The

source could be the silver shell form butter dishes, or the English shell sweetmeat dishes.

 

This escallop shell shaped porcelain dish is quite unusual, as it is a Chinese export copy of an English design in silver or soft paste

porcelain design.  The Chinese infrequently copied English porcelain shapes, and when so, the origin must be determined by the

 ceramic content and painting, rather than the form.  Larger and somewhat different shell form dishes in famille verte, Imari

 palette, and blue & white existed from the Kangxi period.  Spurred dished or this form were found in the Nanking Cargo of 1752.

 

A Lowestoft soft paste porcelain shell dish, c1765-70, pictured below

 

Condition: Good to excellent with one small frit to rim about 2 o’clock (visible in the images)

 

4.25" Wide

 

395.00

 

Please Inquire

 

#5843