841 - Chinese export porcelain famille rose Pronk "Arbour" design saucer dish, ca. 1738-1740. The central field depicting a seated court lady and her attendants in a garden underneath an arch-shaped topiary hedge. The border with cartouches of moths, butterflies, flowers, and fruits on a distinctive trellis ground. The reverse with an iron-red and purple lambrequin border. Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, "Important Americana," 16 January 2004, Lot 63; The Distinguished Collection of Leo & Doris Hodroff. Reference: Howard, "The Choice of the Private Trader," pg. 74, no. 55. A similar example is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession no. 1984.224). Howard & Ayers, "China for the West," pg. 301, no. 295. Lot Essay: Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) was appointed by the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) to "...make all designs and models to our satisfaction, of all such porcelain as will be ordered from time to time in the Indies..." Before the decade was done, Pronk had left the company and the number of designs known to be created by him was small. There are only four preserved designs in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Most were created in famille rose, Chinese Imari and underglaze blue, though some were also created in Japanese Imari. The overall cost of creating his designs was high and not many were ordered, most before the early 1740s. Perhaps one of the most intricate of Cornelis Pronk's designs for the Dutch East India Company, the "Arbour" design is the fourth and last of the certain designs he created in 1737. The sheer complexity of the design proved too expensive to create and the design was discontinued relatively shortly after it began. The plates were designed in four color variants: Chinese Imari, Japanese Imari, underglaze blue, and famille rose. Diameter: 10 1/4 in.