A CHINESE EXPORT PORTRAIT TEABOWL AND SAUCER circa 1740-45

each painted with a bust-length portrait of Johannes Koch, the reverse of the teabowl inscribed IOHANNES COCCEIUS, and the saucer with the name repeated with the further inscription S.THEOLOGIAE PROFESSOR. In Academia Lugdunensi. within a roundel encircling the portrait, and each with a gilt Meissenesque scrollwork border around the rim.  The teabowl with small chips, and the saucer with a small hair crack.

Lucien Vigneau, Paris
The collection of François Hervouët, Belgium, nos. 457 and 456, sold, Sotheby's, London, November 3, 1987, lot 864

(the saucer) François and Nicole Hervouët and Yves Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a Décor Occidental, p. 276, no. 11.52

Cup with wear to gilding around rim,1-3mm chips all around the rim edge, 1 inch haircrack at the back running through the letter o of last name, gilding of blossom in center worn away; saucer with wear to gilding and stacking wear, faint 1/2-inch haircrack at 5 o'clock, miniscule chip at 6:30; both with Hervouet sticker.
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.

Hervouët and Bruneau (see Literature above) comment that this portrait of Johannes Koch (1603-69), the Bremen-born German theologian was taken from an engraving by Abraham Bloteling (1640-90) and Philipp Kilian (1628-93) after the portrait by Anthonie Palamedes (1701-73), all of whom were artists working in Amsterdam.  Koch, who was one of the most influential Calvinist theologians of the seventeenth century, was from 1650 a professor of theology at Leyden University, and was also an expert in philology and Near Eastern languages.