dish BM-Franks.758.+

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1716-1722 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted, underglazed,
Subjects:heraldry
Dimensions:Diameter: 40 centimetres

Description:
Chinese ‘imari’ plate with an English coat of arms. The large plate is decorated in Chinese ‘imari’ style, in underglaze blue, red enamel and gilding, with a central medallion containing a coat of arms with elaborate fronds surmounted by a helmet and with an animal crest; this medallion is repeated four times on the rim, alternating with ‘ruyi’-shaped panels enclosing small landscape scenes, which are joined by an overall flower scroll. The base shows a ‘lingzhi’ mark in a double circle. The arms are Martin. This is one of the Martin families of Worcestershire and London.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The animal which forms the crest of this coat of arms is believed to represent a marten, a homophone of the name Martin, the family to whom the coat of arms belongs. This dish as well as a covered jug (Howard, 1974, p. 176) formed part of a service made for Matthew Martin, Captain of the East Indiaman “Marlborough”, a ship known to have been at Canton in 1716; he later became a director of the East India Company.This dish shows how in the Kangxi period standard export porcelain styles were adapted to fit a Western coat of arms harmoniously into a Chinese design. Various similar plates and dishes with floral motifs instead of the arms were exported to the Middle East and are preserved in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, Turkey ( Krahl, 1986, vol. III, nos. 2994-8). The same design was used again for another armorial service, made around the same time for Daniel Horsemonden of New York, a relative of whom was also involved in the China trade and is known to have been in Canton in 1721 (Howard, 1974, p. 176. For a Chinese ‘imari’ coffee-pot with the same armorial; Sargent, 1993, p. 208 and pl. 2).