Ref: W484
Archive item - not for sale
Pair of Chinese armorial caddies, late Kangxi, of octagonal form, decorated in the Imari palette with underglaze blue and overglaze iron red enamels, the centre with the arms of Horsemonden (Gules a saltire argent over all fess azure charged with three leopard’s faces, a leopard’s head affronté, from the top two snakes vert issuant and facing the dexter and sinister the tails appearing from the mouth), alternately coloured ruyi heads to the top and bottom, four side panels with cartouches containing Chinese landscapes, flanked by scrolling flower heads, two outermost side panels with ruyi head-shaped cartouches containing a landscape scene with pagoda, below scrolling lotus and peony, the top with further floral and ruyi-head design in underglaze blue and iron red.
Dimensions:
Height: 10.5cm. (4 1/8in.), width: 9.3cm. (3 5/8in.)
Condition:
One with chip and fritting to shoulder, the other with chip with associated flake, two small hairlines and small frits to shoulder.
Notes:
The Horsemonden family originated in Kent, and had connections to the East India Trading Company through John Horsemonden, who was a supercargo and second member of the Council at Canton in 1721.
A dish also with the arms of Horsemonden can be found in the collection of the V&A (FE.44-1978)
See Howard, David Sanctuary. Chinese Armorial Porcelain. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1974, p. 176.
