A Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated plate c.1720

A Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated plate c.1720, the plain form later-enamelled with a Kakiemon design of two parrots pecking at millet beneath flowering stems, a grasshopper perched above, the rim with four panels of quail within a cracked ice and prunus ground in a famille vert palette, 21.8cm.

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, no. 823. Purchased from Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 28th November 2000, lot 44.

Illustrated: European Decoration on Oriental Porcelain, p.40, pl.7.

This unusual but well-executed design once again demonstrates the confusion that Dutch-decorators held over the source of Oriental decoration, combining on one plate elements of Japanese and Chinese designs to attractive, but distinctly European, effect. Note the parrots where the quail should be.