Lot 195. An attractive Chinese Famille Rose 'Rockefeller' pattern part-service, Qianlong-Jiaqing period. Est: £4000–6000. Sold for £32000. Photo Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions

each piece enamelled with a different central scene of figures at leisure on terraces, in pavilion interiors and in rocky riverscapes, comprising two different but similarly painted patterns, some pieces within violet diaper-pattern bands and gilt rims and others without the violet bands and with gilt reserved borders, comprising:

A pair of oval baskets and stands, the baskets with arched handles, violet diaper pattern bands, basket handles repaired, the baskets, 20.5cm. wide
A larger oval basket and stand, the basket with arched handles, with violet diaper pattern bands, one handle repaired , the basket, 24cm.wide
Four graduated oval serving dishes, 41cm, 37.5cm, 33cm and 27cm wide
An oval sauce tureen, cover and stand, the tureen 20cm wide
Two oval serving dishes and covers, with partitioned interiors, one with haircrack on cover and other with crack on base , 29cm wide
Fifteen dinner plates, some chips and wear to gilding , 24.5cm wide
Nine soup bowls, two chipped and some wear to gilding , 24.5cm wide
Seven side plates, four with violet diaper pattern bands and three without, wear to gilding , 19.5cm wide
Three circular food warmers, wear to gilding , 28cm wide and a coffee cup
A pair of circular dishes, both riveted, 24cm wide

(47). Wear to gilding throughout the service
A pair of oval baskets and stands, the baskets with arch handles, all basket handles repaired
A larger oval basket and stand, the basket with arch handles, one handle repaired, the basket, 24cm.wide
Four graduated oval serving dishes, 41cm, 37.5cm, 33cm and 27cm wide, generally good with minor wear to gilding 
Two oval serving dishes and covers, with partitioned interiors, one with 21cm haircrack on cover and other with 7cm crack on base, 29cm wide and gilding worn in places
Fifteen dinner dinner plates, one plate with two rim chips each 1cm long; another with one rim chip 6mm long; another with larger 2cm rim chip; five plates with extensive wear to gilt borders and some enamel losses and one of the worn plates with long haircarck; the other ten plates with more minor wear to gilding
Nine soup bowls, two with 2cm rim chips eight with areas of wear to gilding on borders and one with minor wear to gilding
Seven side plates, the four with violet diaper pattern bands with areas of gilding wear to borders and one of the other three with extensive wear to gilding to border and the other two with more minor wear
Three circular food warmers, wear to gilding on borders two with more noticeable wear and one generally good
A pair of circular dishes, both riveted, one has been in several pieces and one has a 9cm semi-circular area on rim repaired.

The present service features a design loosely known as 'Rockefeller pattern' or ‘Palace’ ware. This is not an 18th century name, but reflects the fact that a very handsome and extensive service of this pattern was once owned by the distinguished American collector John D Rockefeller Jnr. Americans also call similar wares 'Palace ware' which was a term used by the generation of buyers in New York, Boston and Philadelphia in the 1930s. 

For similar examples see, Ronald W. Fuchs, Export Porcelain from the Leo and Doris Hodroff Collection at Winterthur , Winterthur, 2005, p.99, no.57 for a tureen and cover and see Howard and Ayres, China for the West, fig 187.

Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions. Chinese Ceramics and Asian Works of Art, Tuesday 17 May 2016