Two Chinese porcelain English-decorated bowls 1st half 18th century

Two Chinese porcelain English-decorated bowls 1st half 18th century, originally decorated in underglaze blue with sprays of flowering peony, later-enamelled in thick polychrome with a continuation of that design and the addition of a tall standing pheasant with head turned, and a finely potted Chinese saucer dish, Yongzheng 1723-35, decorated in famille rose enamels with a long-legged pheasant standing on one leg atop holey rockwork with peony behind, within a shaped panel with rich gilt flowers on a black oeil de perdrix ground, 20.8cm max. (3)

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, nos. 329, 623 and 858.

Illustrated: Helen Espir, European Decoration on Oriental Porcelain, p.225, pl.26. Also Stephen Hanscombe, The Early James Giles and his Contemporary London Decorators, p.53, pl.16 for one of the bowls.

The two bowls are perfect examples of the impact of the famille rose pattern, being straightforward conversions of the traditional blue and white designs and copying the original Chinese decoration seen on the saucer dish. A teabowl and saucer of the same design is illustrated by Friedrich Reichel in Die Porzellansammlung Augusts des Starken, no. 139.