plate BM-Franks.765.+

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1747-1750 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted,

Dimensions:Diameter: 16.30 centimetres

Description:
Small deep ‘famille rose’ plate with an English coat of arms of Cholmondeley, “Gules two helmets in chief proper garnished or, in base a garb of the last”, with Edwardes in pretence (not painted in the correct tinctures as these would have been difficult to see against the ‘background’): “Gules a chevron engrailed between three tigers’ heads argent. The arms are surmounted by a viscount’s coronet and Viscount Malpas’s supporters: “A griffin sable and A wolf or”: This small deep plate shows in the centre a pastoral landscape with a tree swathed in a floral garland, and two dogs, two crooks, bagpipes, a bonnet, and a flock of sheep in the background. The rim bears a coat of arms with a coronet, supported by a black griffin and a wolf, with the Latin motto below ‘CASSIS TUTISSIMA VIRTUS’ (virtue is the safest helmet), and a golden Rococo scrollwork border on the rim.
IMG


Comments:See also Franks.831..+See also Franks.763..+See also Franks.824..+See also Franks.833..+ Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The arms have been identified as those of the Cholmondeley family, with Edwards in pretence (Howard, 1974, p. 331). The service to which this deep plate belonged was made for the politician George Cholmondeley, Viscount Malpas (1724-64) and his wife Hester Edwards, whom he married in January 1747. The combination of romantic-pastoral motifs in the centre of the plate is known as the ‘Absent Master’ and derives from a design created by Peircy Brett, draughtsman of the great English seaman, Commodore Anson (see BM Franks. 831).