A EUROPEAN SUBJECT PAINTED ENAMEL PLAQUE QING DYNASTY, CIRCA 1735 |

of rectangular form, finely painted in bold famille-rose enamels with a domestic scene depicting a luxuriantly robed and bejeweled woman, perhaps Penelope the wife of Odysseus, seated in a 17th century-style European armchair, working a loom with the assistance of two cherubic figures, all within an interior embellished with a Chinese-style barrel-form garden seat beside a table set with a 'cracked-ice' vase, a European jug and a platter holding a pineapple, a purple-enameled curtain in the foreground pulled to one side.

Collection of Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh.
Sotheby's New York, 19th October 2000, lot 411.

J.A. Lloyd Hyde, Chinese Painted Enamels From Private and Museum Collections, China Institute in America, New York, 1968, cat. no. 50.
David Howard and John Ayers, China for the West, Chinese Porcelain and other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, vol. II, London and New York, 1978, cat. no. 657.
The China Trade: Romance and Reality, De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, 1979, p. 60.

The panel is in good overall condition. There are chips to the enamel on two corners and an approx.1 inch long scratch to the upper right hand corner. The lower left hand corner with an original approx. 1/2 x 1/4 in white-enameled area. There is expected wear to the surface which is more noticeable along the edges.
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.

Enamel plaques are rare and no other example of this subject matter is known. The scene relates to a Deshayes print depicting an elegant European lady with hands similarly positioned but playing a keyboard, see David Howard and John Ayers, China for the West, Chinese Porcelain and other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, vol. II, London and New York, 1978, p. 631. But the inclusion of the putti and the diadem on the figure's head recall images of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus. A paradigm of marital fidelity, she remained faithful for twenty years waiting for Odysseus's final return and famously deterred her numerous suitors by declaring that she would only remarry after she finished weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law.