Page 71 - Hodroff Collection January 2019 SaleCat

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A SET OF FOUR DOUCAI 'SOUTH SEA BUBBLE' PLATES The 'South Sea Bubble' was a rampant, widespread 1720s fnancial
KANGXI PERIOD, CIRCA 1720 speculation that led to fnancial ruin and even imprisonment in both Holland
Each enameled with a Commedia dell'Arte fgure wearing a chequered and England. Spoofs of the foolish and greedy investors were published in
costume above a tiled foor, the border with a band of leaves in blue, green, many media, often using the popular Commedia dell'Arte Harlequin to mock
iron-red and gilt investor bufoonery. One infuential satirical work published in Amsterdam
8º in. (20.9 cm.) diameter (4) in 1720 was titled This great Theatre of Folly, representing the origin, progress
$15,000–25,000 and downfall of the South Sea Bubble in France, England and Holland.
Engravings of this type eventually made their way to China, to be copied onto
PROVENANCE: porcelain.
With Charles Perry Chinese Export Porcelain, Atlanta (two plates).

This set of four is from the best-known series of export "Bubble" plates,
with Commedia fgures in doucai enamels alongside Dutch inscriptions
lampooning both swindlers and speculators. This version, with its
exaggerated poses of Harlequin, whose features have become almost Asian,
was found in the Dreesman Collection, no. J-83, sold Christie's, Amsterdam,
16 April 2002, lot 1309 (a set of fve plus one repeat).

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