A RARE SET OF FIVE CHINESE 'SOUTH SEA BUBBLE' PLATES

EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Depicting comical figures in various poses in interiors wearing jester's and other costumes, the borders painted in rouge-de-fer, 21.5cm. (5)

This series of plates was made for the Dutch market and they are called 'Bubble' plates, since they were likely to have been made to satirize the South Sea Bubble 'mania' which occurred in the early 18th century. The South Sea Bubble refers to the South Sea Company which was a British joint stock company founded in 1711 in which many people made and lost considerable fortunes.

Cf. D Howard and J Ayers, China for the West, vol.1, pp.234-5 for a discussion on the background of these plates.