Pair of Chinese Export Platters from the Van Cortlandt Service, c. 1770

Pair of Chinese Export porcelain platters from the Van Cortlandt Service, the central scene of a woman sitting on a bench as a page approaches with a bird on a pillow within a fanciful walled garden with blooming trees and a large pink and yellow passionflower; the elaborate border painted in underglaze blue and overglaze famille rose enamels.

This gorgeous, meticulously decorated service stands as a tour de force of the porcelain art. The underglaze blue painting, the overglaze polychrome painting and fine gilding around the border each represent a discrete stage in the manufacturing process. Note, for instance, the four cartouches at the corners, where the shape is outlined in underglaze blue, then filled with orange (rouge de fer) and painted with flowers and finally gilded. Daniel Nadler cites this service as "pointing to integrated production at the Jingdezhen source." He further notes the large passion flower soon developed into a key motif in the famous 'tobacco leaf' pattern. [1]

Pieces from this service have been in the Van Cortlandt House in Bronx, New York, since colonial times. David S. Howard muses, "Great figures frequented the house and may have used the service. In 1781 alone, visitors included George Washington, Rochambeau, and the Duke of Clarence, later William IV of England." [2]

[1]
Daniel Nadler, China to Order : Focusing on the XIXth Century and Surveying Polychrome Export Porcelain Produced during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1908) (Vilo International, 2001), 70-71.

[2]
David Sanctuary Howard, et al, New York and the China Trade (New-York Historical Society, 1984), 70.