Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
Lot 44
A very rare and documentary Chinese Export Dutch-decorated bowl, dated 1741-42
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
Ask about this lot
Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
Raphael Machiels
Associate Specialist
A very rare and documentary Chinese Export Dutch-decorated bowl, dated 1741-42
The outer wall decorated with three scenes within cartouches: a rat entering a trap, a long inscription in black script, and a group of people escaping a flood, against an iron-red trellis diaper band separated by open peonies, edged with a band of blue lozenge and circle decoration, the interior with birds in flight and a mole rat painted within a roundel in the centre over an impressed flower, 14.3cm diam, 7.4cm high, the base inscribed and dated 1742 in black script
Footnotes
Provenance
With Robert McPherson Antiques, 2012
Literature
White, Mary, Beasts at the Whites' House, Vol.1, 2020, p.113
Espir, Helen, European Decoration on Oriental Porcelain, 2005, fig.19, pp.168-169
This bowl commemorates a major flooding event in the Dutch town of Gorinchem from 23rd December 1740 to 3rd January 1741, caused by two burst dykes at the confluence of the rivers Lek and Linge (see Helen Espir, 2005, p.169).
The inscription, translated from the Dutch, reads 'In the year 1741, on New Year's eve, there was a very high water flood in Gorkum [Gorichem] and the surrounding country, such as had never happened before in living memory, many dykes broke and much damage was done. In the year 1742, in the summer, there was a plague of rats that ate the crops; such a thing had never been heard of before.'
Important Notice to Buyers
Condition is not specified in the lot cataloguing. Please request a condition report.