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Description

Product Description

A delightful and rare pair of plates commissioned by the Dutch East India Company the V.O.C., with a scene that is considered to be the first depiction of a purely European scene reflecting a social context. On the night of October 4th 1690 the residents of Rotterdam demolished the house of the Chief Bailiff following more than two weeks of riots after the execution of one Cornelis Kosterman who most thought to be innocent of any crime. The scene was commemorated on a silver medal by Jan Smeltzing which must then have been sent to Canton, China for reproduction on porcelain. A delightful aspect of the decoration on these plates is the obvious difficulty the painter experienced copying the European scene and characters. The exterior rims to the reverse of the plates are decorated with a continuous lotus scroll and swastika band, around a Ch’eng Hua reign mark (1465-87) to the center.

Chinese, Kangxi Reign, c. 1690-1695, for the Dutch market.

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