A set of four Chinese European subject enamel plaques, probably Beijing. Circa 1740. Photo courtesy Marchant

of rectangular form painted in famille rose colours with scenes of European men and women in terraced gardens with western style pavilions, engaged in various pursuits, the first with a seated lady with onlookers, a young man resting on a flowering tree, a boy chasing a rabbit in the foreground, the second with four men and a little boy, below them another seated boy and a small dog, the third with a gentleman gesturing and two ladies, among children and a dog with a flowering prunus tree in the background, the fourth with a bearded man in elaborately draped robes and a gentleman, waving to two small children, a dog looking on with two further figures in the foreground, a European style arch and pillar behind them, all set in landscaped fenced terraced gardens. 

In modern gilt wood frames.

• Formerly in the collection of Mr. And Mrs. Raffi Y. Mottahedeh.

• Published in China for the West, vol. II by David Howard and John Ayers, page 632, no. 658, where it states “These plaques must have been fitted to a set of table screens or other furniture. They are probably Peking work, and made for the Court with the intention of illustrating European life. The distinctive linear style is reminiscent of woodblock prints used in the illustration of Chinese novels and romances; the effect of the white ground and pure colouring is unusually fresh, with a palette still somewhat akin to the famille verte”.

• Exhibited at the China Institute in America, 1969-70, p. 12, no. 4 of the exhibition catalogue and at the De Cordova Museum 1979.

• Exhibited by the Chinese Porcelain Company in Chinese Painted Enamels of the 18th Century, October 1993, col. pl. 44.

MARCHANT http://www.marchantiques.com