Three Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated bowls Qianlong 1736-95

Three Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated bowls Qianlong 1736-95, with various original decoration of a band of small floral sprays, a continuous floral design, and a landscape with a figure on a bridge, the former over-enamelled with three Chinese figures and with red and green enamel highlights to the existing flower designs, the second with strutting cockerels, the interior walls with parrots perched on rosebud stems, the last with a single large Chinese figure and smaller figures on bridges in the manner of the original underglaze blue decoration, the interior with two figures seated in a garden, 15cm. (3)

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, nos. 600, 565 and 529.

The over-enamelling on the first two bowls dates probably to the second half of the 18th century. While some effort has been made to accentuate the original decoration, in places it has been largely ignored. The latter bowl shows a little more sympathy towards the original design.