A Rare Large Chinese Export Biblical-Subject ‘Rebecca at the Well’ Oval Platter, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period | 清乾隆 粉彩描金聖經人物故事圖大盤

The Country Squire Inc., Boston, 23 October 1998

The present example, finely decorated with colorful polychrome enamels, is clearly inspired by a contemporaneous European print that is yet to be discovered. The scene depicts the interaction between Rebecca (Rebekah), future wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau, and Abraham's servant, Eliezer, and recounted in Genesis 24:15-22:

“And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not. And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold...”

As seen in the present example, Eliezer on the right, presents Rebecca with two bracelets and a ring, which it appears that the Chinese painter might have interpreted the two bracelets as a connected rope. Examples decorated with floral spray borders are extremely rare, one circular plate with fluted rim, formerly in the collection of François Hervouët, is illustrated in François and Nicole Hervouët and Yves Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a Décor occidental, Paris, 1986, cat. no. 11.3, p. 259, and later sold in these rooms, November 3rd, 1987, lot 865. Other related examples feature a gilt shell and foliate scroll border on a plain rim, including one formerly in the collection of Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, illustrated in David Howard and John Ayers, China for the West, London, 1978, vol. 1, cat. no. 301, p. 308, and later sold in these rooms, October 19th, 2000, lot 248, and later entered the RA collection and illustrated in Maria Antónia Pinto de Matos, The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics: A Collector’s Vision, 2011, vol. II, cat. no. 352, pp 282-283. No other oval platters of this type appears to be published.