61 - Large porcelain platter with heraldic decoration for the English/Irish market (Michin), China. Qianlong period (1736–1795), circa 1740. The large platter is decorated in grisaille and “Famille Rose” glazes, featuring, in the center, the Michin coat of arms: ermine with a chevron of two closed couples sable between three fleurs-de-lis azure; the crest, A naked arm bent at the elbow, the hand grasping a baton in sable, with the motto ‘Regarde la mort’ (‘Look upon death’), and below it ‘Dum spiro spero’ (‘While I breathe, I hope’). Dimensions: 32.5 cm A chip on the rim has been restored, and there are a few restored chips on the reverse.

Large porcelain platter with heraldic decoration for the English/Irish market (Michin), China. Qianlong period (1736–1795), circa 1740. The large platter is decorated in grisaille and “Famille Rose” glazes, featuring, in the center, the Michin coat of arms: ermine with a chevron of two closed couples sable between three fleurs-de-lis azure; the crest, A naked arm bent at the elbow, the hand grasping a baton in sable, with the motto ‘Regarde la mort’ (‘Look upon death’), and below it ‘Dum spiro spero’ (‘While I breathe, I hope’). Dimensions: 32.5 cm A chip on the rim has been restored, and there are a few restored chips on the reverse. Charles Minchin of Moneygall was a captain in the Parliamentary army in Ireland and purchased the Annagh estate, in County Tipperary, in 1669. His second son, Humphrey of Ballinakill, served as High Sheriff of County Tipperary in 1696. He had three sons, the youngest of whom was George Minchin, a captain in the Hon. East India Company. George Minchin married Jane, daughter of the Rev. J. Hemsworth, and had only one daughter, Harriet, who married William Woodward of Cloghprior, in County Tipperary. It seems likely that this piece was commissioned on the occasion of Captain Minchin’s wedding, or perhaps for an older brother, Humphrey of Bushertown, or Paul of Bogn, in County Carlow. See David Howard, *Chinese Armorial Porcelain*, vol. II, p. 228.