PERIOD: 18th century
A CHINESE EXPORT 'EROTIC' SAUCER CIRCA 1740 painted with Cupid reaching for a bird held aloft by a lady wearing a décolleté robe and seated beneath a tree, the rim with a gilt floral and foliate-scroll border, and the underside painted with a scantily draped amorous couple. The rim with a hair crack. PROVENANCE Christie's, London, 1984 CATALOGUE NOTE Teawares with "surprise" decoration on the base can be found in combination with a variety of European subjects as primary decoration. A saucer, for instance, from the W. Martin-Hurst Collection, decorated on the front in grisaille and blue enamel with the scene of Petrus de Wolff, and on the reverse in polychrome enamels with the "surprise" decoration of a scantily clad lady seated in a suggestive position, is illustrated by Palmer, p. 82, fig. 46.
PRIX: $3000