A RARE CHINESE EXPORT ARMORIAL EWER AND COVER circa 1720

after a Near Eastern metal form, and painted on either side with the arms and crowned demi bull crest of Luís Peregrino de Ataíde of Portugal on a trellis-patterned scrolling bracket supporting a pair of flower-filled vases, the rim of the tall neck with a border of bellflower swags pendant from shells and scrolls, the cover with further scrolls and foliate devices, the spout entwined with bamboo and leafy branches, and the domed foot and scroll handle with foliate borders. 

Collection of Basileo da Costa Gomes, Rio de Janeiro, sold, Christie's, New York, January 24, 1997, lot 42

New York, International Asian Art Fair, 2002

Nuno de Castro, Chinese Porcelain and the Heraldry of the Empire, p. 61, illustrated

Excellent, 1/4-inch frit to tip of knop, small firing crack at lower loop of handle at joins.
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This ewer is from the third of at least seven services with these arms, all elaborately but differently decorated, presumed to have been ordered circa 1720, by Dom Luís Peregrino de Ataíde (1700-58), who, according to de Castro, op. cit., was the "10^th Count of Atouguia, a member of the Council of King João V, Governor and Captain-General of the Algarve, and 6^th Viceroy of Brazil from 1749 to 1755."  If indeed these are Ataíde's coat of arms, it is possible that the services were ordered on the occasion of his marriage in 1720 to Dona Clara Assis Mascarenhas, daughter of the 2^nd Count of Obidos.  Pieces from each of the Ataíde services are illustrated by de Castro, op. cit., pp. 53-61.

It has been postulated, however, by Howard and Ayers, Vol. II, pp. 450-451, no. 457, who illustrate a large dish with these arms in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, sold in these rooms on January 30, 1985, lot 271, that based on stylistic inconsistencies in the coat of arms and on a contemporary bookplate illustrated on p. 451, no. 457b, that these so-called Ataíde services actually were made for the Marini family of Italy.  This point is also mentioned by Krahl and Harrison-Hall, p. 46, who on p. 47, no. 16, illustrate a covered tureen with these arms and closely related Bérainesque decoration.