A Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated coffee cup and saucer 1st half 18th century

A Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated coffee cup and saucer 1st half 18th century, originally decorated in underglaze blue with a central scroll design within a hatched border, a band of stylized scrolls outside the well and a further narrow diaper rim above an anhua band, the latter over-enamelled with three scenes, one of a stag being chased by a hound, another of a huntsman blowing a horn, the last of two figures in a small boat, reserved in panels on a black and red oeil de perdrix ground, the rest with gilt highlights, 12cm. (2)

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, no. 384. Purchased from Geoffrey Waters, December 1994.

Whilst not quite the true 'Stag Hunt' pattern, which was copied from Chinese porcelain by London decorators and then picked up by English factories, most notably Worcester, there are enough elements to see this decoration as copying a Chinese original with adaptations to suit the shape and European taste. An identical coffee cup and saucer was sold in the Watney Collection, lot 74.