A RARE IMPERIAL CANTON ENAMELLED CUP WITH COVER AND SAUCER QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

the deep U-shaped bowl finely painted in a soft pastel famille-rose palette on a copper ground with three allegorial vignettes, each enclosed within an oval cartouche of formalized floral design,  depicting ladies and boys picking fruits and flowers in an idyllic setting amid European-styled buildings, the panels reserved on a ground of millefleur against a white ground, all supported on a flared foot painted with a ruyi head trefoil band skirting the foot with pink dots below, the domed cover similarly painted with three panels on a millefleur ground, each depicting an old herder tending to either his goat, cow or horse, surmounted by a gilt finial, the interior fitted with a double gilded ring forming a channel providing a snug fit, the saucer painted with a single scene of three ladies and a boy picking flowers in a pastoral setting against a stormy sky, similarly fashioned with a floral ground, the exterior left undecorated, all bound with a gilt band around the rims

Bowl and cover: There is loss of enamel to the everted edges of the cover as well as some crackling of the enamel around the knob. There are two 2cm restoration patches along the edge of the foot of the bowl. There are also some very minor characteristic crackling to the interior of the bowl and cover. Saucer: There is some minor restoration to the exterior of the rim. There is a 3cm long diagonal scratch to the upper left part of the saucer (visible in the illustration) as well as some minor scratches to the interior edge. The gilding is slightly worn. There are some very minor pitting original to the pieces. The overall condition is very good.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present cup, cover and saucer, in form and style of decoration is closely related to wares enamelled with the three allegorical figure subjects; Vertumnus and Pomona; the Goddess Cybele Holland seated in the Chair of Liberty; and the three figures representing Plenty. These three subject matters were first painted by Chinese artists on export porcelain which became the blueprint for designs on enamelled metal wares. See a saucer of the same size painted with a scene of Cybele meeting a beggar woman in a rococo-style panel set on a dense floral-scroll ground with similar border decoration, from the Mottahedeh collection and illustrated in David Howard and John Ayers, China for the West, vol. II, London, 1978, pl. 662, sold in our New York rooms, 19^th October 2000, lot 417. A cup, cover and saucer of this type was sold in our London rooms, 15^th December 1970, lot 25. Two other examples of a cup, cover and saucer with the same subject is illustrated in Hugh Moss, "Questions and Answers," Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Summer 1982, fig. 18 and in Chinese Porcelain Company, Chinese Painted Enamels of the 18th Century, New York, October 1993, cat.no. 55.  Compare another related cup and cover decorated with European style pastoral scenes in reserve illustrated in Michael Gillingham, Chinese Painted Enamels, Oxford, 1978, pl. 119.  

The exceptional quality of the painting of these vessels suggest that they were made by experienced Chinese artists possibly trained in the Palace Workshop by the Jesuit missionaries who introduced the technique of enamelling on metal to the court. The painting style and colour palette used is comparable to that found on many of the Palace Workshop pieces decorated with European subject matters. For example compare the European figures and landscape scene painted on the snuff bottle, from the J & J Brundage collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 22^nd March 2007, lot 4. See also the figures painted on a small Qianlong mark and period box, in the Pierre Uldry collection, illustrated in Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonne, Zurich, 1985, pl. 288, in similar decorative rococo-style panels; and a cloisonné and painted enamel covered jar decorated with European figures, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl. 38.