A Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated chocolate pot and a saucer dish early 18th century

A Chinese porcelain Dutch-decorated chocolate pot and a saucer dish early 18th century, the chocolate pot originally left plain with underglaze blue bands to the neck and foot, later-enamelled with three small panels of a figure in a boat beside buildings between tall sprays of Oriental flowers, the saucer dish with anhua decoration, later-decorated in the famille verte palette with four lozenge-shaped panels of flowers around a central flowerhead design, with further floral sprays between, 21.5cm max. (2)

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, nos. 809 and 516.

Illustrated: Helen Espir, European Decoration on Oriental Porcelain, p.99, pl.31 for the dish.

While the saucer dish in this lot is a shape distinctly to Chinese taste, the chocolate pot demonstrates European demands for new shapes, with the somewhat poorer quality of porcelain production also providing an indication of the attitude of the Chinese potters towards their ill-cultured European customers.