PAIR OF "EUROPEAN SUBJECT" PLATES (DESHIMA ISLAND)

China, Kangxi, c1680-90

Painted in the Japanese style copying a Dutch Delft original* in the manner of Frederik van Frytom,

the pattern traditionally known as Deshima Island, with three figures and a bull in the foreground and

buildings around a harbor in the background, within a shaped wave-decorated rim; prunus branches

and single circles verso, in the Japanese manner

Condition: Very good with expected rim frits to several points

Ref: D. Howard and J. Ayers, China for the West, vol. 1, no 32

A pair with identical painted decoration (there are several types) sold at Christie’s Amsterdam,

sale 2332, May 1997, for 1888.00 USD

*Note: Deshima Island was an island in the Nagasaki, Japan harbor, where the Dutch East India

Company engaged in trade from 1641 until the 19^th century. As there was vast distrust of the Westerners, they

were confined to the island, where also no foreign women were allowed. From Deshima Island, commissions were

given to the Japanese painters - who were not allowed on the Island. The painting for the ceramics was done only

from descriptions of those who had seen the Dutchmen, brief glimpses, or from scarce Western prints. When the Chinese

resumed making ceramics about 1680, they were also commissioned to make versions of the Deshima Island plates.

Recently, there has also been suggestion that the plates might also have depicted a harbor town on the west coast of

Sweden – Gotheborg – also built by the Dutch as a trading station.

7 ¾”D

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#5137

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