Two Chinese porcelain blue and white bowls mid 18th century

Two Chinese porcelain blue and white bowls mid 18th century, both decorated in underglaze blue with a figure on a low, arched bridge beneath a pine tree, one Dutch-decorated in coloured enamels above the original decoration with a panel of a man in a yellow coat, another of a courting couple, he offering his seated companion a plate of fruit while a dog begs beneath, two groups of birds in flight forming a W and V above their heads, the main decoration separated by small floral panels, the bowl's interior with three long-tailed birds in flight, each with a spray of flowering blossom in its beak, 15cm. (2)

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, nos. 367 and 408. The non-enamelled bowl previously from the Nanking Cargo.

The courting scene on the enamelled bowl depicts William V of Orange and Princess Frederica Sophia Wilhelmina of Prussia, to whom he offers a bowl of oranges, thereby inviting her to follow him to the Netherlands. The pair were married in 1767, and the Dutch enamelling will therefore date to after this time. On the reverse panel it is interesting to compare the enamelled version to the original and notice how the scholar on the bridge has been disguised as a small tree.