Chelsea porcelain 'Hans Sloane' botanical, circa 1755
A Chelsea porcelain 'Hans Sloane' botanical oval platter, circa 1755. photo courtesy Sotheby's
boldly painted with a large spray of hollyhock leaves and flower buds, a sprig of fruit, other flower sprigs and various scattered insects, red anchor mark.; length 16 3/4 in. (42.5 cm) - Estimate 30,000—50,000 USD. Lot Sold 36,250 USD
PROVENANCE: Sold, Sotheby's, London, November 11, 1958, lot 103
Sold, Sotheby's, London, July 16, 1982, lot 25
The Antique Porcelain Company, London
NOTE: The decorative term 'Hans Sloane' derives from an advertisement in Faulkner's Dublin Journal of July 1-4, 1758, announcing "...table plates, soup plates & desart plates enamelled from Sir Hans Sloan's plants" - apparently one of the first identifiable references to the Chelsea factory's popular botanical wares. Most botanical renderings on these Chelsea pieces were taken from illustrations in Philip Miller's Gardener's Dictionary of 1735 and Figures of...Plants depicting specimens from the Chelsea Physic Garden of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), of which Miller, one of the greatest horticulturists of the 18th century, had been appointed 'Gardener' in 1722; and from Plantae Selectae Quarum Imagines after Georg Dionysius Ehret (who had married Miller's sister-in-law), published by C. J. Trew and B. C. Vogel of Augsburg, 1750-53. Many of the botanical specimens copied by the Chelsea porcelain painters from the Ehret volumes, while not always representing plants from the Chelsea Physic Garden, still maintained their connection with Sir Hans Sloane, as Ehret (along with other artist such as Maria Sibylla Merian and J. van Huysum) had been employed by the baronet to copy his collection of 800 species of plants (now dried and preserved in 333 volumes in the Botanical Department of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington). Many of the van Huysum drawings are preserved in the Print Room of the British Museum, which was founded by the bequest to the nation of Sir Hans Sloane's entire collection, upon his death in 1753.
Examples of Chelsea porcelain painted in 'Hans Sloane' style are illustrated by Elizabeth Adams, Chelsea Porcelain, pp. 112-13, figs. 8.23-8.25, where the author also discusses the origins and evolution of this type of decoration at the Chelsea manufactory; and by John C. Austin, Chelsea Porcelain at Williamsburg, pp. 91 and 93, nos. 78, 81 and 82. Three similarly decorated 'Hans Sloane' plates were sold by Sotheby's, London, December 2, 2003, lots 88-90.
A Chelsea porcelain 'Hans Sloane' botanical soup plate, circa 1755. photo courtesy Sotheby's
painted in the center with a large caterpillar climbing a spray of white and puce lily, a smaller sprig of fruit and three winged insects, red anchor over numeral 7 marks; diameter 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm) - Estimate 12,000—18,000 USD. Lot Sold 25,000 USD
PROVENANCE: The Antique Porcelain Company, New York
A Chelsea porcelain 'Hans Sloane' botanical plate, circa 1755. photo courtesy Sotheby's
boldly painted with a large leafy spray of iron-red and yellow flowers and a dragonfly and smaller winged insect, both 'shadowed' in the manner of J. G. Klinger; diameter 9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm) - Estimate 12,000—18,000 USD. Lot Sold 22,500 USD
PROVENANCE: The Estate of Anita O'Keeffe Young, sold, Sotheby's, New York, October 10, 1985, lot 67
The Porcelain Collector, Venice, California
A Chelsea porcelain 'Hans Sloane' botanical soup plate, circa 1755. photo courtesy Sotheby's
painted in the center with a large yellow and puce flowering botanical specimen, other scattered sprigs and various insects, the reverse with two small green leaves, red anchor above numeral 8 marks; diameter 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm) - Estimate 12,000—18,000 USD. Lot Sold 22,500 USD
PROVENANCE: Sold, Sotheby's, London, July 24, 1984, lot 158
The Antique Porcelain Company, New York
A Chelsea porcelain 'Hans Sloane' leaf-shape dish, circa 1755. photo courtesy Sotheby's
molded as a simple leaf painted with a head of celery, a parsnip and three winged insects, red anchor mark; length 8 1/8 in. (20.6 cm) - Estimate 10,000—15,000 USD. Lot Sold 21,250 USD
PROVENANCE: Sold, Sotheby's London, July 16, 1991, lot 260
Sold, Sotheby's, New York, April 16, 1993, lot 137
Sotheby's. Fine English Furniture, Ceramics & Carpets. 22 Oct 10, New York www.sothebys.com