A POLYCHROME PORCELAIN 'SCOTSMAN' DISH
China, Qing dynasty, mid 18th century



The decoration consisting of two standing figures, a simple soldier on the left, in the left hand a rifle, and a bagpiper on the right, on the brim four polylobate cartouches, two of them containing a glimpse of landscape, the other two with 'flowers and birds' compositions, the central scene painted in rich polychromy, the reserves with sepia ink.

24,5 cm diameter

Provenance: ambassador Gerardo Carante.
This dish is part of a small group of dishes decorated with a similar scene, including the one illustrated by D.S. Howard and J. Ayers, China for the West. Chinese Porcelain and Other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, London, 1978, I, p. 239, n. 234. The two scholars identified the source for the two characters in prints created by George Bickham, the first - depicting the bagpipe player - published in 1743 as the title page of A short history of the Highland Regiment, referring in particular to battalion 42, later merged into 79 of the Scottish army. The prints, and therefore the plates, were made to commemorate a mutiny that occurred on 18 July 1743, during which some soldiers lost their lives. The prints, or the book, in some ways had reached China and there was transposed on porcelain.
Compared to the known examples (David Sanctuary Howard and John Ayers remember about twenty), this dish from the Carante Collection shows some difference: the dimensions of the figures are smaller, while the reserves along the rim in the other dishes are painted in black ink and touches of color.