D2025. Polychrome Petit Feu Figure of a Cockerel

描述

Note

This model must have been taken from either a late seventeenth-century Japanese Arita porcelain original, an example of which is in the Burghley House Collection, Stamford, England, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue of The Burghley Porcelains (Japan Society, New York 1986), p. 223, no. 90, or equally likely, a Dehua blanc-de-Chine figure of circa 1700, an example of which, in the Groninger Museum, Groningen (inv. no. 1948-147) is illustrated by Jörg 1983, p. 93, no. 50, who on p. 185, no. 140, also illustrates a Delft polychrome counterpart of that same early date in the Kunstmuseum, The Hague (inv. no. OCD204-04). The same cockerel is illustrated also by Fourest 1980, p. 161, pl. 159. Given the extensive trade by the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) with both Japan and China at this time, it is possible that either model served as the prototype for the present cockerel. The decoration is most likely to have been inspired by the early Chinese famille-rose porcelains of the Yongzheng Period (1723- 35). To achieve this delicate palette on tin-glazed earthenware, the enamels and gilding had to be fired at a lower temperature in a ‘muffle kiln,’ and the technique is referred to as ‘petit feu.’

Condition

• Overall in good condition