QIANLONG 1736 – 1795 English Decorated Chinese Porcelain

Information

The Staghunt Pattern :
The staghunt pattern or rather group of designs can cause problems. Bernard Watney worked on separating the original Chinese enamelled pieces from the English over-decorated examples. The present piece presents no such problems with its bianco-sopra-bianco shell shaped border decorated over the under-glaze cobalt blue design. Although the Chinese used this border pattern in the 1750`s they would not have used it over a pre-existing blue and white design. White enamel was frequently used in England on Chinese export porcelain but was rarely employed in Holland. English enamel colours came from Holland and Venice, white enamel coming from Venice. This might explain the sparing use of the colour in Holland where as it seems to have been used in England in larger amounts. In the `Limehouse Class` white enamel colour was often used with Famille Rose pink painted on top, often giving the impression that it was `bleed` into the white. This is a feature often encountered on early Chinese Famille Rose wares of the Yongzheng and early Qianlong periods (c.1730-1750) that the `Limehouse Class` was copying.