Object Notes

In 1734, the Dutch East India Company hired the Amsterdam drawing master Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) to create porcelain designs to be copied in China.

In 1734, the Dutch East India Company hired the Amsterdam drawing master Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) to create porcelain designs to be copied in China.

In 1734, the Dutch East India Company hired the Amsterdam drawing master Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) to create porcelain designs to be copied in China.

This large dish was part of a service made around 1720 for Thomas Pitt (d. 1729). In 1717, Pitt married Lady Francis Ridgeway, daughter of the Earl of Londonderry. Following his father-in-law's death, Pitt himself was made Baron Londonderry, and in 1726 he was advanced to the new Earldom of Londonderry and constituted Captain General of the Leeward Islands in the West Indies. 

In 1734, the Dutch East India Company hired the Amsterdam drawing master Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) to create porcelain designs to be copied in China.

This vase is part of a set of vases called garnitures.

In 1734, the Dutch East India Company hired the Amsterdam drawing master Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) to create porcelain designs to be copied in China.

This large plate depicts the harbor of a great fortified city. Despite the presence of some European-style architecture and figures at front left, the view is probably meant to represent an Islamic trading center with its many domes and minarets.

Of all the shapes commissioned by Europeans, this ewer with its matching basin (see 1985.R.910), is one of the most successful. A continental silver or pewter model of this form was probably sent to China for copying to ensure accuracy in filling orders. Appropriate to a vessel intended to pour water, the ewer is shaped like a nautilus.

The shell and scroll border seen on this plate was fashionable on Chinese export porcelain between approximately 1745 and 1755. The inner border of small flowers is generally found through the late 1730s. The presence of both patterns suggests a date of around 1745.