Bidspirit auction | After Maria Merian Botanical Plate

After Maria Merian Botanical Plate - Rare Chinese export porcelain famille rose botanical and insect plate, ca. 1735. Decorated along the center with a bright iris and orchid bloom with two caterpillars and a large iron-red butterfly. The Pronk style border of interlaced floral ribbons in turquoise, yellow, iron-red, and purple. Illustrated in Howard, ”Choice of the Private Trader, ” pg. 78, no. 60. Provenance: Collection of Alfred Morrison (1821-1897), Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire (no. 646); The Rt. Hon The Lord of Margadale of Islay, T.D. (later known as the Fonthill Heirlooms); Earle D. Vandekar, New York, 4 May 1987; The Distinguished Collection of Leo & Doris Hodroff. Reference: Howard & Ayers, ”China for the West, ” Vol. I, pg. 304-5, no. 298. Lot Essay: This rare pattern is almost exclusively produced on plates. The central design is the style of Swiss-Dutch botanist Maria Sybille Merian, who travelled to the Dutch West Indies in 1698. In 1705 the drawings she made were published in Holland as ”Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium.” It is from these published drawings that the present lot was created, inspired by plate 121. Plates with this design are the only known use of her work on export and the relative rarity of these would suggest a small service. Howard & Ayers illustrate a vase (no. 298a) with a similar design. It is also noted here that the border greatly resembles the rim design in Cornelis Pronk's ”The Visit of the Doctors to the Emperor.” Though there is no evidence that it originated from the Pronk 'studio', the date is the same, an underglaze blue version is known to exist, and the concept is within the brief given to Pronk. One underglaze blue plate, from the collection of Leo & Doris Hodroff, sold at Christie's, 17 January 2019, Lot 447. Similar plates are in the collection of the British Museum, the Franks Collection, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Diameter: 10 1/4 in. Condition: There is one small hairline crack along the rim (1/4 inch in length). No chips or restorations. Little to no surface wear. Some glazing flaws to the petals of the iris. Very light wear to the footrim.