A European-decorated Chinese porcelain teapot with teabowl and saucer mid 18th century

A European-decorated Chinese porcelain teapot with teabowl and saucer mid 18th century, printed and hand-coloured in England, perhaps at Battersea, with a shepherd and his flock seated beneath a tall tree with buildings visible on a hill behind, the teabowl and saucer with four character Yongzheng marks, 14.5cm. (4)

Provenance: the Godden Reference Collection. The teabowl and saucer purchased from E & H Manners, 9th June 2004, and with paper labels for Stockspring Antiques, early James Giles no.153. The teapot previously in the Watney Collection.

Exhibited: The Early James Giles and his Contemporary London Decorators, Stockspring Antiques 5-17 June 2008, cat. no.153, together with a matching milk jug. In his text accompanying the 2008 exhibition, pp.139-40, Geoffrey Godden discusses this distinctive pattern and suggests the Chinese blanks may have been up to ten years earlier than the date of the decoration.