Qianlong
Comprising: a rare famille rose 'Four Elements' tea bowl and saucer depicting 'Fire'; a tea bowl and saucer enamelled and gilt with a goatherd in a landscape of pine and rockwork; a tea bowl and saucer decorated en grisaille, coloured enamels and gilt with a European lady seated beneath pine; a 'marital' tea bowl and saucer decorated with joined petals enclosing the initials 'I:B' and 'MR' and dated 1779, amongst birds, butterflies and flowers; and a further tea bowl and saucer brightly enamelled with geese by a riverbank amongst flowers and rockwork.
The largest saucer: 12cm (4 3/4in) diam. (10).
Footnotes
清乾隆 外銷茶盃及托五組
Provenance: Acquired from Elizabeth Hand, Petworth, before 1990 (the 'Four Elements' set)(collector's notes)
Acquired from R & G McPherson Antiques, London, 2002 (the Marital set)(collector's notes)
Acquired from R & G McPherson Antiques, London, 2003 (the European lady set)(collector's notes)
Acquired from Jill Gosling Ceramics, June 2018 (the geese set)
(collector's notes)
: M. White, , vol. 2, n.p., 2021, p.208-209 (the geese and goatherd sets); p.211 (the 'Four Elements' and European lady sets)
The 'Four Elements' design is taken from one of a series of paintings of 'The Four Elements' by Francesco Albani (1578-1660), which were commissioned by Cardinal Maurice of Savoy and are now in the Turin Gallery.