Bidspirit auction | Blue & White Deshima Island

Blue & White Deshima Island Plate - Chinese export blue and white ”Deshima Island” porcelain plate, Kangxi/Yongzheng ca. 1700-33. Depicting figures, curiously dressed and likely Western, in a rural landscape with a bull and a village in the background. The crimped rim with waves along the border. Illustrated in Howard, ”Choice of the Private Trader, ” pg. 44, no. 11. Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh; Sotheby's, New York, ”Chinese Export Porcelain and English Pottery, ” 27 January 1988, Lot 184; The Distinguished Collection of Leo & Doris Hodroff. Reference: Howard & Ayers, ”China for the West, ” Vol. I, pg. 72, no. 32. Illustrated here is a similar plate from the same collection sold at Sotheby's on January 30, 1985, Lot 21. Lot Essay: Howard & Ayers suggest that this design is derived from a Dutch Delft original, possibly showcasing a view of Scheveningen on the Dutch coast, copied then to Japanese porcelain before being so faithfully adapted by the Chinese that firing-spur marks found on Japanese porcelain were imitated. However, there is still some debate as to whether these plates are all Japanese, some Chinese after Japanese, or most Chinese, and indeed how to date any of the above! Howard also notes in ”Choice of the Private Trader” that the scene is ”almost certainly copied from a drawing by Frederick van Frytom” and was possibly reordered over the course of two decades by the V.O.C. The rim design is likely after a silver original. The name ”Deshima Island” plate is a misnomer. It was previously thought to depict a view of Deshima Island in Nagasaki Bay where the Dutch had their Japanese 'factory, ' but is more likely a view of Holland. Diameter: 7 3/4 in. Condition: There are some small frits along the rim; one small chip to the rim. No cracks or restorations. Light wear to the footrim. Some light surface wear.