CHINA - Lot 425

CHINA Large rectangular porcelain dish with blue underglaze decoration of the Dutch "Folly Fort", braid on the rim. 18th century, Qianlong period (1735-1796). L. : 45.5 x 38 cm. The Dutch fort was built on a sandbank in the Pearl River, near the foreign factories of Canton (Guangzhou), in a spot close to a memorial temple to Li Maoying (1200-1257) of the Song dynasty. The "Folly Forts" were a series of defensive structures put in place by the Ming dynasty Chinese to protect Guangzhou (Canton). At the beginning of the Qing dynasty, advances in gunnery rendered them useless and they fell into ruin. Several European countries, including the French and Dutch, used them as warehouses and personnel bases. The Dutch "Folly Fort" was located to the east of Guangzhou. Bibliography: C.J.A Jörg, Porcelain and the Dutch China Trade, 1982, The Hague, p. 70, no. 18 for a saucer with the same decoration and Kiinalaista Posliinia Suomessa, Chinese H. Hyvönen Porcelain in Finland, 1986, Finland, p. 147, no. 262 for a dish.