soup-plate BM-1902-0514.1

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1739-1743 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted,
Subjects:horse/ass
Dimensions:Diameter: 22.80 centimetres

Description:
‘Famille rose’ plate with an English coat of arms. The large coat of arms in the centre is that of Leake Okeover (1702 -65) impaling that of his wife, Mary Nichol, in an elaborate ‘rocaille’ surround, surmounted by a helmet with large red and white plumes and with an oaktree as crest, and flanked below by two white horses emerging from water, and by flags, all enclosed in a shell-shaped panel. On the rim are four panels, two with the initials ‘LMO’ and two with griffins above crowns, all flanked by dolphins and alternating with European-style flowers.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The design exactly copies a pattern sent to China for that purpose and inscribed on the reverse ‘The Arms of Leake Okeover Esqre. of Okeover near Ashbourn in the Peak in the County of Derbyshire – a pattern for China plate. Pattern to be returned’. Deliveries of two shipments of Chinese porcelain to the Okeover family are recorded, one in 1740 and the other in 1743, and the bill of the former is preserved, which shows that the original price of one plate was about one English pound. Over 150 plates and dishes are known to have been ordered, of which 100 were preserved in the family until recently (Christie’s London, 3rd March 1975, lots 165-84). The present dish was also given to the Museum by a member of the family. Other examples are in the Cooke collection (Howard, 1974, frontispiece and p. 398). The history of this service is recorded by Howard and Ayers (1978, vol. II, pp. 413-15), who are illustrating another dish in the Mottahedeh collection (pl. 413) as well as the original drawing and a detail of the invoice (pls. 413 a and b).