A Rare Large Chinese Export Princely Armorial Serving Dish for the German Market Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, Circa 1750 | 清乾隆 約1750年 粉彩紋章圖菱口長方盤

Collection of Helena Woolworth McCann (1878-1938)
Gift of the Winfield Foundation, 1955

The complex arms painted in the present example are of the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, Christian Augustus (1690-1747), and his wife Johanna Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (1712-1760), daughter of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and sister of Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden between 1751-1771. The couple's first child, Princess Sophia Augusta Federica of Anhalt-Zerbst (1729-1796) later became the famous ruler Catherine II, most commonly known as Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. She was the longest reigning monarch in the history of Russia, reigning for 35 years, and was responsible for strengthening and expanding the empire. 

A slightly smaller serving dish from the same service is illustrated in Maria Antónia Pinto de Matos, The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics: A Collector's Vision, Vol. III, London, 2011, cat. no. 519, formerly in the collection of Helena Woolworth McCann. A tureen, cover and stand, as well as other pieces from this service, is illustrated in John Goldsmith Phillips, China-Trade Porcelain: An Account of Its Historical Background, Manufacture, and Decoration and a Study of the Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, Cambridge, 1956, pls 27 and 28, where the arms were incorrectly attributed to the Dukes of Anhalt.