Page 26 - Chinese Export Porcelain Art, MET MUSEUM 2003

25. Plate. Chinese (French market), ca. I745-50. Hard paste. Diam.
io in. (25.4 cm). Gift of Charles K. Davis, 1948 (48.I72.I0)

The arms are those of Orry, and the plate may well have been madefor
Jean-Henri-Louis Orry, comte de Fulvy (1703-i751), Louis XV's
intendant des finances. Fulvy was actively engaged in the trade and
manufacture ofporcelain, as in his officialposition he was involved in
the importation of Chinese wares; about 1740 he was also the effective
promoter of the Vincennes (later Sevres)factory. The ornamentalpatterns
panels, of
surrounding the arms recall motifs in Watteaus decorative
which some-like the bat's-wing element-occur on early Vincennes
porcelain. The pattern on the rim is unique to this service, and it is
to
to
tempting interpret the stylized tower motif as an oblique reference
the coat arms Madame de Pompadour, guiding patroness of the
the
of
of
Vincennesfactory.

_l~~~~~~~Oe

26. Platter and Plate. Platter: Chinese (Swedish Seven export services were ordered between about i75o and i8oo by the
are
market), ca. I755-60. Hard paste. W. i6 in. (40.6 cm). Grillfamily, active in the Swedish East India Company;Jfour
Purchase, Winfield Foundation Gift, 1982 (1982.212). conspicuous for their originality. The decoration of theplate has been
Plate: Chinese (Swedish market), ca. I750. Hard paste. attributed to Christian Precht (i7o6-i779), a goldsmith andjeweler
Diam. I2s/8 in. (32.2 cm). Helena Woolworth McCann working independently of the guild system; his French-trained Rococo
Collection, Purchase, Winfield Foundation Gift, 1971 style is documented in designsfor silver andfor exportporcelain and
flourishes of
(1971.149) Mariebergfaience. The graceful Rococo the border cartouches
are consistent with Precht's and the attribution is
expansive style,
plausible. The identical border occurs on a plate, possibly for the Swedish
market, dated i75o. On the platter, which is coarser material, the
of
unidentified designer has playfully reinvented the heraldry.
designer has playfully reinvenzted th5e heraldry.
unidentSfied

25