An 18th Century Chinese Export Porcelain ‘Neptune’ Mug
An 18th Century Chinese Export Porcelain ‘Neptune’ Mug, Late Qianlong c.1785 – 1795. The original of this mug was made in England by William Duesbury’s Derby porcelain factory in Nottingham Road, Derby, some are marked with a puce-mark which dates them to around 1785. This is an unusual Chinese version of a Neptune mug, in that there is a border of scrolling grape vine with grapes below the rim. Not something that was associated with Neptune, but it is used more appropriately with another porcelain mug of this type, one of Bacchus. The Bacchus mug has vines with grapes threaded into his hair. It seems the symbolism was lost in translation between England and China, or is it that this mug is not in fact of Neptune. This model has been variously named ‘Neptune’, ‘Rodney’ and ‘Sailor’s Head’. For Chinese export versions of this mug, but without the vine border see : The Choice of the Private Trader, The Private Market in Chinese Export Porcelain illustrated from the Hodroff Collection. China for the West, Chinese Porcelain, and other Decorative Arts for Export Illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection. Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum. See References for details.
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SOLD
- Condition
- A large chip at the front of the mugthe top rim is very rubbed, some gold is retained in an area of fritting. Fritting and wear to the handle.
- Size
- Height 11.3 cm (4 1/2 inches). Handle to nose 14.1 cm (5 1/2 inches).
- Provenance
- N/A
- Stock number
- 26576
- References
- For Chinese export versions of this mug but without the vine border see : The Choice of the Private Trader, The Private Market in Chinese Export Porcelain illustrated from the Hodroff Collection (David S.Howard, Zwemmer,1994. ISBN 0 302 00642 7) page 195, plate 226. : China for the West, Chinese Porcelain & other Decorative Arts for Export Illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection (David S. Howard and John Ayers, Sotheby's, 1978) Volume 2, page 570, plate 591. Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum (Edited by William R. Sargent Essay by Rose Kerr, Peabody Essex Museum and Yale University Press, 2012. ISBN 9780300169751 hardcover) page 473, plate 262. Sold at Christie's New York, 23 Jan 2007. Price realised 23 Jan 2007 USD 2,400 (Estimate USD 1,500 – USD 2,500) ; A "NEPTUNE" MUG CIRCA 1790 After a Derby porcelain model, naturalistically formed as the bearded god's head, his iron-red and gilt crown a border beneath the molded rim, a thick arched handle at the back with fluted sides. A very similar mug in the Mottahedeh collection was sold together with a Derby example by Sotheby's New York, 19 October 2000, lot 366.
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