A Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated plate 1st half 18th century

A Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated plate 1st half 18th century, originally decorated with a simple anhua design within a narrow hatched border in underglaze blue, later-decorated in bold polychrome enamels with a couple and a small child walking in a garden beneath a tall tree, within a strapwork cartouche, the border with a red, green and gilt design of stylized flowers, 23.2cm.

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, no.445. Purchased from Geoffrey Waters, October 1995.

Illustrated: Helen Espir, European Decoration on Oriental Porcelain,p.188, pl.42.

Cf. Francois et Nicole Hervouet, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, p.371.

This very European style of decoration, borrowing Oriental elements for the floral border, is largely derived from the Meissen factory; particularly the addition of the strapwork cartouche, popular on the factory's output of the 1730s and '40s.