Rare Arita Pronk Plate, ca. 1740

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Dealer

Kollenburg Antiquairs BV

Price

Price on request

Status

Available

Period

ca. 1740

Material

porcelain

Description

Japanese porcelain Pronk plate with a depiction of ladies with parasols. As an experiment the VOC in 1734 commisioned a number of designs from Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) to be used in China as examples for porcelain decoration. The drawing of the ‘Parasol Ladies’ was the first of four drawings that Pronk made. The governors in Batavia send these pictures to China, as well as to Japan, with the instruction to decorate porcelain ware according to these examples. Soon the application of the designs appeared very time- consuming for the porcelain painters. The detailed decoration of the rim and the wonderful insects on the back are halmarks for these Pronk plates. This specimen is a rare Japanese example. Due to the fact that wages for decorators were much higher in Japan than they were in China, it was soon decided only to order these plates in China.

Literature: C.J.A. Jörg, Pronk Porselein Porselein naar ontwerpen van Cornelis Pronk, tent.cat. Groninger Museum Groningen, Haags Gemeentemuseum Den Haag 1980.

Provenance: Private collection