A CHINESE EXPORT ARMORIAL TEABOWL AND SAUCER circa 1738-41

painted on the front or in the center with the arms of Adriaan Valckenier, and on the reverse of the teabowl and exterior of the saucer with two or three arrangements of famille-verte and gold flowers and precious objects beneath a spearhead border on the rim, the interior of the teabowl with a vase amidst flowers beneath a scallop-and-bud-edged iron-red and gold trellis diaper border around the rim repeated on the saucer rim.  Tiny chips.

Sold , Sotheby's, New York, January 31, 1985, lot 232 (five pieces, including a teabowl and a pair of saucers from this service)
Edward Sheppard, New York, February 6, 1985

Cup with 3 minute chips on out edge by arms, saucer excellent.
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.

An identically bordered hexagonal teabowl and saucer with these arms is illustrated by Jochem Kroes, "De wapenserviezen van Adriaan Valckenier (1695-1751)," Vormen uit Vuur, 1998/2, No. 164, p. 38, pl. 7, who discusses and illustrates further pieces from at least seven different armorial services ordered by Valckenier, who served in Batavia from 1715 to 1741, ultimately as the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies (1737-41), a position that required considerable entertaining, hence the flurry of simultaneous porcelain commissions.  Kroes 2007, pp. 131-134 provides a further extensive account of Valckenier and his services, and on p. 132 mentions that when Valckenier returned to Amsterdam in 1741, according to the paklijst of 1741, he transported 2,377 pieces of armorial porcelain aboard the ship Amsterdam.  "This collection of Chinese armorial porcelain is probably the largest ever shipped to the Netherlands."

This particular service, which decoratively and chronologically would appear to be the second of Valckenier's services, was strictly a tea service, and seems to have included teabowls and saucers with both plain rims, as here, and hexagonal rims, as seen in the eight teabowls and saucers illustrated by Kroes 2007, p. 132, cat. no. 32.  This tea service is apparently among the rarest of the Valckenier services, and is mentioned by Le Corbeiller 1974, p. 88, who cites other teabowls and saucers sold at Sotheby's in London on November 15, 1960, lot 165.