Ref: Y516
Archive item - not for sale
Chinese blue and white 'Rotterdam Riots' plate, early Kangxi (1662-1722), depicting a scene from the Kosterman uprising of 1690, decorated in the centre with figures climbing haystacks and a ladder to demolish a Dutch row-house, with a crowd gathered near two cannons, the rim with four floral cartouches against a diaper ground, with an apocryphal Chenghua mark to base, diameter: 7 15/16in., 20.1cm; condition: two shallow frits to rim. The riot was sparked by the brutal execution of a city guard Cornelis Kosterman and culminated demolition of the Chief Bailiff's house by a mob. The design was copied from a silver medal struck by Jan Smeltzing (1656-93) after an engraving by Gerard van Loon to commemorate the riots. It is assumed that an order for the production came soon after the actual events in 1690. For example of these plates in the British Museum and the MET Museum see Beurdeley, 'Porcelain of the East India Companies' (London, 1962), p. 189, cat. 170; and Le Corbeiller, China Trade Porcelain (1974), p. 31, pl. 12. For more information see Howard & Ayers, China for the West Vol. I, p. 60, pl. 15. A Rotterdam Riots dish from the Julia and Joh n Curtis Collection at Christie's New York. SOLD
