Page 18 - Met Museum Export Porcelain 2003

17. Dish. Chinese (Scottish market), ca. i735.Hard paste. Greatest w. 53/8 in. easily confused with the arms of other fami-
(39.1cm). Gift of Mary Knight Arnold, 1978(1978.520.2) lies, if the shield is a common one (figs. 10,
Thethickand layered,ratherthan shaded,darkroseof the mantling identifiesthis 16);so it is not surprising to find an enameled
as an earlyexampleof thefamille rose,whichfirstappearedin armorialporcelain armorialas early as 1702 on dated plates for
about1722. Thethicknessis characteristict:he enamelcolorsof Chineseexportwares the Dutchfamily de Vassy. Enamel colors-
almostinvariablysit higheron thesurfacethan theydo in otherAsianorEuropean especially those of the later famille rose-
hard-pasteporcelains. must surely have stimulated the fashion for
ThearmsarethoseofJames,fifthdukeofHamilton (I702/3-I743). Theserviceis armorials, which pervaded the private trade
nearlyidenticalto anotherbearinghis armsand thoseof his thirdwife, whomhe of all the participatingcountries (fig. 17).
marriedin I737, and musthave beenorderedshortlybeforethatyear.
The development of the famille rose
20 changed the character both of export porce-
lain and of Chinese porcelain made for the
domestic market.Its much discussed origin
has centered on the Jesuits, whose role in
introducingthe art of painted enamels in the