dish BM-Franks.893.+

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1738-1740 (circa)
Materials:porcelain, gold,
Technique:painted, gilded,
Subjects:heraldry equestrian
Dimensions:Diameter: 42 centimetres Height: 5.50 centimetres Weight: 1.55 kilograms

Description:
The large plate has a broad flat rim and is painted overall ‘en grisaille’ with details in gilding with a biblical scene, closely copied from an engraving. It shows a man with long beard in lavish robes riding a richly appointed horse, being led through a city by a man in a turban who clears the way, and proceeded by trumpeters; around him people are shown suffering. The story depicted is the Triumph of Mordecai, which is told in the Bible, in the book of Esther in the Old Testament. It is the story of a virtuous Jew who was about to be destroyed together with his people, the Jews, by a selfish prince in the royal household, but was saved through intervention of his niece and adopted daughter Esther, who was Queen. Here he is shown being led in triumph through the city after the looming evil has been averted, which is probably referred to by the suffering figures on the ground. The design is based on an etching and engraving by Edme Jeaurat see Prints and Drawings 1952.0405.121 made in 1737.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:This dish is unique in its subject, and together with BM Franks.892+, is one of the very rare pieces painted in the style of Western faience with an overall picture. Both dishes are copying an engraving unusually precisely, as if every line of the engraver’s hatching had been reproduced. Both this dish and the following are further remarkable and highly unusual in bearing a coat of arms on the reverse. The arms, painted in blue, gold, red and black, have been identified as belonging to the family French of Thornidykes and Frenchlands in Berwickshire. Two other plates decorated with a copy of an engraving of flowers bear the same arms. These plates do not seem to form part of a service, but were probably made for display. This design is also known in a modern copy (Hervouet and Bruneau, 1986, no. 17.26).