Serving dish
Maker & role
Unknown, Maker
Production date
circa 1795
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Object detail
Production place
Collection
Measurements
1 - Vegetable dish, L: 28 x W: 22.5 x D: 7cm (L: 280 x W: 225 x D: 70mm); 2 - Cover, Diam: 23.3cm (Diam: 233mm)
Production notes
Almost certainly commissioned by a member of the Rawson family, via a hong merchant in Guangzhou (Canton)
Subject person
Signature & marks
Rawson and Company crest and motto "LAUS VIRTUTIS ACTIO" = ‘The praise of virtue is action’
Credit line
Gift, through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2006
Elizabeth Bay House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Elizabeth Bay House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Description
Chinese export porcelain oval lidded vegetable dish with celadon ground and green overglaze decoration of four clusters of leaves, flowers (peonies and chrysanthemums) and scholars' utensils in ‘Fitzhugh’ pattern. The shallow domed cover has a central gilt strawberry finial flanked by two representations of garters enclosing the circular Rawson and Company crest (an eagle head above a bar) and motto "LAUS VIRTUTIS ACTIO" (= ‘The praise of virtue is action’) in grisaille, sepia and gilt. The rim is decorated with fretwork, foliage and butterflies. The interior of the bowl has green enamelled ‘Fitzhugh’ pattern flanking a larger version of the Rawson and Company crest. The sides of the bowl are decorated with green enamel chrysanthemums.
Chinese export porcelain was made specifically for the European market, often to order with specific patterns, crests and monograms. This trade began in the 16th century, but peaked in the 18th and early 19th centuries, at which time there was a small but historically significant trade with the colony of New South Wales. This vegetable dish, from a Chinese export part-dinner service, was acquired in the broader context of the Caroline Simpson collection (previously exhibited at Clyde Bank, Mrs Simpson’s private museum open to the public from 1996-2004) and strengthens Elizabeth Bay House’s important holdings of provenanced decorative arts, without direct reference to the Macleay family. It provides evidence of European trade with China, through centres such as Canton in the late 18th – early 19th centuries. This service is the only one known to have been made for a British family with green 'Fitzhugh-pattern' decoration. The English firm of Rawson and Company was one of seven trading at Canton in 1820s.
Chinese export porcelain was made specifically for the European market, often to order with specific patterns, crests and monograms. This trade began in the 16th century, but peaked in the 18th and early 19th centuries, at which time there was a small but historically significant trade with the colony of New South Wales. This vegetable dish, from a Chinese export part-dinner service, was acquired in the broader context of the Caroline Simpson collection (previously exhibited at Clyde Bank, Mrs Simpson’s private museum open to the public from 1996-2004) and strengthens Elizabeth Bay House’s important holdings of provenanced decorative arts, without direct reference to the Macleay family. It provides evidence of European trade with China, through centres such as Canton in the late 18th – early 19th centuries. This service is the only one known to have been made for a British family with green 'Fitzhugh-pattern' decoration. The English firm of Rawson and Company was one of seven trading at Canton in 1820s.
Accession number
EB2007/11-1:2
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