A PAIR OF CHINESE EXPORT 'TRUMPETER' TEABOWLS AND SAUCERS circa 1740

each painted on the front and reverse or in the center with two blackamoors, one playing a trumpet suspending a yellow standard, and the other playing a French horn, all reserved against a lustrous black ground beneath a gilt spearhead-edged border on the exterior rim of each, the interior rim of the saucer with a further band of spearheads beneath a border of geometric floret devices alternating with diamonds and at the edge a gilt band of black diamonds and ovals.  Tiny chips.

The collection of Mary Viscountess Rothermere, sold, Christie's, London, April 16, 1994, lot 32

New York, International Asian Art Fair, 2002 (one of the pair)

All of black grounds with some wear and scratching and all pieces with sparce remaining gilding on rim edge, one teabowl with 3mm chip on outer edge above the hornplayer and a small glaze crack on the interior at the same point, other teabowl with two 1mm and one 3mm chip above the horn player and a 2mm chip elsewhere, 2mm flake to black enamel under the trumpeter; one saucer with two 2mm chips on outer edge filled in at 1:30, 2mm chip to reverse rim filled in at 12 o'clock; one saucer with 1mm chip at 8:30.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Three versions of this extraordinary decoration exist, differing only in their border designs.  Howard and Ayers, Vol. I, p. 305, no. 299, who illustrate the 'Trumpeter' waste bowl from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, sold in these rooms on October 19, 2000, lot 235—an example with a simple spearhead border—suggest that this decoration depicting "music played 'eastward of the Levant' [by musicians] dressed in Ottoman fashion," may have been designed by Cornelis Pronk, presumably as a special commission for a client of the Dutch East India Company.  Howard 1994, p. 178, no. 202, who illustrates a saucer with the simple spearhead border and a coffee cup and saucer with the more complicated border as on the present teabowls and saucers, offers an explanation for the two versions, suggesting that "there is little doubt that this proved an expensive design to paint, and the [pieces with the more elaborate borders] are probably from the first order, while the...more simply [bordered pieces are] from a repeat order when greater attention was being paid to cost."

An identical teabowl and saucer are illustrated by Krahl and Harrison Hall, p. 185, no. 79.  A coffee cup in this earlier version of the pattern is illustrated by Litzenburg and Bailey, pp. 9 and 178, no. 173; a covered milk jug in this version is illustrated by Lunsingh Scheurleer, pl. 92; and two plates also in this version are illustrated by Hervouët and Bruneau, p. 191, nos. 8.20 and 8.21, the latter, however, having a white, rather than black-ground rim, and with the figures reversed.

A 'Trumpeter' teabowl and saucer in each of these two versions were in the collection of Dr. Anton C. R. Dreesmann, sold at Christie's in London on  April 10, 2002, lots 423 and 424, respectively; and a saucer was sold at Christie's in New York on January 23, 2008, lot 115.

The third and rarest version has a border of gilt foliate scrolls and blossoms at the edge of the rim, and a teabowl and saucer in that pattern are illustrated by Jörg 1989, p. 157, no. 55.