plate BM-1963-0422.21

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1723-1735 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted,

Dimensions:Diameter: 229 millimetres Height: 30 millimetres

Description:
‘Famille rose’ plate with a scene from the Bible. The plate shows a woman, naked to the waist with loose drapery around her hips and legs, seated on the edge of a pool, attended by five servants, and a man standing on a balcony above, blowing a horn. Two square shapes are visible in the distance. The rim of the plate is painted with a dense floral border.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The interpretation of this extraordinary and rare design has become possible by the discovery of an illustration in an Old Testament, published by P. Le Petit in Paris in 1669 (Hervouet and Bruneau, 1986, p. 262). This print, made from an engraved copper plate, illustrates the storyof David, King of Israel, and the beautiful Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s soldiers, which is told in the second book of Samuel, chapter 11, verses 2-27. Whilst walking on the roof of his palace, David saw a beautiful woman washing herself in a pool below. Having ascertained that her husband was away in the army, he seduced her, and when shebecame pregnant, he ensured that her husband died in battle and married her himself. The design on the print is much more detailed than that on the Chinese plate, which was painted after a reversed copy. On the plate Bathsheba is prominently depicted, bathing in a square pool attended by servants, but the crowned King David on the roof, carrying one of his attributes, a harp, has been turned into a man blowing a horn. The squares in the background are a simplified interpretation of a formal garden in the engraving. Plates with this design are comparatively rare but an identical plate is in a private collection (Hervouet and Bruneau, 1986, no. 11.11).