A Chinese Export Verte-Imari European Subject Plate, Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng Period, circa 1730 | 清雍正 約1730年 五彩西洋人物圖盤

Many scholars have attempted to identify the couple depicted on plates of this type, without success. The figure of the man was thought to be one of several historical figures, including King Louis XIV or the Dutch Governor of Batavia Diederik Durven, however these attributions are not confirmed. An example of this pattern, along with a larger saucer dish without the underglaze-blue decoration, is illustrated in François and Nicole Hervouët and Yves Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes: à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, cat. no. 7.30 and 7.31. Another, formerly in the collection of Hodroff Collection, is illustrated in David S. Howard,The Choice of the Private Trader, London, 1994, cat. no. 37.