A CHINESE EXPORT BIBLICAL PLATE circa 1750-55

painted with 'Rebekah at the Well' pouring water into a golden ewer, approached by Abraham's servant Eliezer, and surrounded by five other women, the rim lightly molded with lotus petals decorated with four clusters of gilt flowers and foliage within a 'bracket'-molded edge.  The rim with tiny chips.

Sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 1975
The collection of François Hervouët, Belgium, no. 522, sold, Sotheby's, London, November 3, 1987, lot 865

San Francisco, Fall Antiques Show, 1995
London, A Tale of Three Cities, 1997, no. 138

François and Nicole Hervouët and Yves Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnie des Indes a Décor Occidental, p. 259, no. 11.3

David S. Howard, A Tale of Three Cities: Canton, Shanghai & Hong Kong, p. 114, no. 138

A series of small chips on the upper and lower side of the rim edge and a rim chip at 10 o'clock, very minor stacking wear, gilding almost completely worn on the floral sprays and rim edge, 3/8- and 1/8-inch chips to the footrim edge, Hervouet sticker and Sotheby's 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.

This plate depicts the story of 'Rebekah at the Well' from Genesis, Chapter XXIV, verses 15-20, in which a servant of Abraham, sent to Mesopotamia to find a wife for Abraham's son Isaac, sees and approaches the fair Rebekah (Abraham's great-niece) drawing water from the village well.  She offers him and his camels the water from her pitcher, and through her kindness eventually becomes Isaac's wife.

Commenting on the present plate, Howard (see Literature above), suggests that the "gilt floral rim is likely to have been more popular in the French market, although various other border designs...were used with this scene," as evidenced by a gilt shell-and-foliate-scroll-bordered example illustrated by Howard 1994, p. 93, no. 8.  There the author further observes that "the dating of this service is quite exact, for a plate with the same design and border was in the cargo of [the] Geldermalsen, which sank in January 1752 between Canton and Batavia."

Though not a common subject, the scene is found most frequently on plates with the gilt shell-and foliate-scroll border, and other  examples of that type are illustrated by; Beurdeley, p. 180, cat. 136; Howard and Ayers, Vol. I, p. 308, no. 301; Litzenburg and Bailey, p. 202, no. 202; and Williamson, pl. XLII (bottom left).  Four of that type were sold at Christie's in New York on January 23, 2008, lots 118 and 119.  A plate with a gilt-edged fluted rim was in the Jarras Collection, sold at Christie's in London, on June 13, 1990, lot 102.

The same scene was produced on teawares without any border design, of which a teabowl and saucer are illustrated by Jörg 1997, p. 291, no. 339; and that saucer is illustrated also by Lunsingh Scheurleer, pl. 240.