Bidspirit auction | Chinese Model of Cow After

Chinese Model of Cow After Delft - A Chinese porcelain model of a cow, Qianlong ca. 1770. The spotted animal standing foursquare on a canted base with a wreath of iron-red daisies painted around its neck. With markings similar to a Friesian, gilt hooves and horns, tail flicking its flank, and head slightly turned. Illustrated in Howard, ”Choice of the Private Trader, ” p. 276-7, no. 334. Provenance: The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 15 June 1986; The Distinguished Collection of Leo & Doris Hodroff. Reference: Sargent, ”The Copeland Collection, ” p. 228-9, note 5, Leiting Fourest, who mentions the flower-decorated cows and records such a pair in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Howard & Ayers, ”China for the West, ” Vol. II, pg. 604-5, no. 629. Lot Essay: Based on a Dutch Delft original, perhaps inspired by earlier Meissen examples, this model is known with various markings, some quite fanciful (such as this one with flowers). Sargent notes that in 1746 the Dutch East India Company sent a tin-glazed model to China for copying, with an order for 120 pairs of an earlier model. He also records that the cows painted with flowers at the neck are based on festivities held in Delft, when cows were decorated with flowers and had their hooves and horns gilded for procession. Height: 4 3/4 in x width: 8 in x depth: 4 in. Condition: There are signs of restoration to the upper, left side of the head, particularly the horn and ear. The right horn has been restored. There are a few small rounded firing flaws corresponding to losses to the glaze and uneveness to the porcelain, particularly along the underside of the neck, the tail, and the left side of the torse. There are scattered linear firing flaws. There are fleabite to small-sized chips along the underside. Wear to the glaze and gilt, including losses.