Chinese-export Armorial Plates, ca. 1735
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GUEST:
Well, I was fortunate enough to inherit them from my grandmother. And they were always on her sideboard, and now they're on my sideboard.
APPRAISER:
They're on your sideboard now?
GUEST:
Right, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
These are a pair of what we call Chinese export armorial plates.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Now, "armorial" stands, actually, for the large coat of arms, which is painted in the center here. And armorial porcelain really comes into fashion just about 1710. These happen to be for the English market. These are probably early what we call Yung Chen period. And you can tell that they're early mostly because you can see that they haven't really gotten a handle on the red enamels here. And the red enamels are a little what we call fugitive, but they make a marvelous floral spray as you go around it.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Now, as you go to the inner border here, this is called rouge de fer, or iron red. And also, you have these Chinese symbols here, which are called the ba ji xiang, which are the Eight Buddhist Symbols. Now, they actually show two of the eight symbols, each one done twice. Now, the Chinese would never have represented only two. They would... For good fortune, they would always represent all eight of them. So this is kind of a dig, basically saying, "Hey, you really don't know what you're ordering, but it looks really good."
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
If you notice, in the middle of the armorial, it is split, which means two separate families that are joined together.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
These date from probably 1730 to 1740. The demand for them in the very beginning was not particularly strong, but as the demand grew, they couldn't afford to do all of this hand painting anymore.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And so the borders become narrower, the decoration becomes skimpier, and it becomes much more generic. This is the great age of armorial porcelain, and they are in remarkable condition. Probably the pair together would be worth around $14,000 to $18,000.
GUEST:
My goodness.
APPRAISER:
A terrific pair of Chinese export plates.
GUEST:
Well, thank you so much.
APPRAISER:
Thank you.
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