A RARE CHINESE FAMILLE ROSE 'LA DAME AU PARASOL' PLATE

C.1740

After a design by Cornelis Pronk, brightly enamelled with a young lady and her attendant beneath a parasol, with aquatic birds and bulrushes, the border with panels of figures and birds on a bright pink cell diaper, the reverse with eight iron-red insects, 25.5cm.

Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) was a Dutch draughtsman and painter. This design, drawn in 1734, was the first that Pronk made for the Dutch East India Company and the drawing was sent to China and Japan to be copied onto porcelain. The pattern appears on Chinese famille rose, blue and white, and Imari pieces.

Cf. The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, object no.RP-T-1967-18 for Pronk's original drawing; see also C J A Jörg, Pronk Porcelain: Porcelain After Designs by Cornelis Pronk, pp.14-18 and pp.60-73 for a discussion on this design; see also Christie's London, 2nd November 2016, lot 52 and Sotheby's New York, 15th-18th January 2004, lot 61 for closely related plates.