A Chinese blue and white mythological subject basin with Neptune, Qianlong

Dia.: 38,5 cm

Condition: (UV-checked)
- In quasi excellent condition with a few spots of typical glaze loss and small chips to the rim.
- Some tiny superficial crazing to the inner base rim.

品相報告：（已用紫外線光檢查）
- 近乎全品，盘口沿几处典型剥釉和小飞皮。
- 圈足内侧几处极小龟裂。

Ref.:
- Chinese porcelain in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Ming and Qing Dynasties (Christiaan Jorg, Phillip Wilson, The Rijksmuseum, 1997) page 277, plate 321, for a bowl with this design from ca. 1740-1750.
- Chinese Export Porcelain in the Reeves Center Collection at Washington and Lee University (Thomas V. Litzenburg Jr,. Third Millennium Publishing, London, 2003) page 196, image 195.
The image shows Neptune, the Roman god of the sea and its inhabitants. The scene illustrates an episode narrated by Virgil in the book of Aeneid, I, pages 124-143, where Neptune calms the waves with his trident after the chief goddess, Juno, intervened in the Trojan War by unleashing a storm to destroy the retreating Trojan army. The drawing was later engraved by Bloemaert's son, Frederick.
- Other pieces with the same decoration include a pattipan in the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands Jorg, 1982, no. 50, and a plate in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Le Corbeiller, 1974, no. 28; a drip tray on a saucer in the Mottahedeh collection comes from a similar service, see: Howard and Ayers, 1978.