REF No. 6692
Chinese export porcelain large saucer for the Mexican market
Qianlong period circa 1745
Spanish-Mexican Market
Diameter: 14 inches; 35.5cm
Price: £11,250
A Chinese export porcelain large saucer dish brightly enamelled in famille rose with a double headed eagle motif surrounded by vases of flowers and a blue border to the rim.
The double headed eagle shown here is a symbol of St Augustine, who was known as ‘the Hipona Eagle’, suggesting that this dish was made for a Spanish Augustinian order based in Mexico, though others were based in Macao, the Philippines and India.
References: Howard 1994, p231, a Wanli jar with the eagle; Castro 1988, p29, a similar blue jar; there is similar famille rose dish in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.