A pair of Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated saucers 1st half 18th century

A pair of Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated saucers 1st half 18th century, the finely potted plain forms later enamelled with a blue tit cleaning its beak on a short branch, with butterflies, flying insects, a grasshopper and a caterpillar about, 11.4cm dia. (2)

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, no. 865. Purchased from Robert McPherson, May 2002.

The black lines in the decoration would suggest that the subject was copied from an engraving, perhaps after Maria Sibylla Merian, a German-born botanist who was sponsored by the city of Amsterdam to visit Suriname and record the local wildlife. While blue tits are not native to that area, the amateur style of painting suggests that a degree of poetic licence may have been taken.