Lot 72 , A rare Chinese blue and white armorial charger with the arms of the Coelho family, Kangxi period, c.1715

A rare Chinese blue and white armorial charger with the arms of the Coelho family, Kangxi period, c.1715, painted with an armorial incorporating a lion and seven hares, within bands of extravagant scrolling leaves and flowers, unglazed base, diameter 43.2cm, section of rim lacking

Provenance -
António de Albuquerque Coelho de Carvalho (1655–1725)
Private collection, Sussex

cf. a similar dish sold by Lempertz, Cologne, Germany, 12 December 2022, lot 161.

Literature -
Daniel Suebsman, Porcelain Treasures of the Kangxi Period, Hetjens, Düsseldorf 2016, no. 76, and Nuno de Castro, Chinese Porcelain at the Time of the Empire, Portugal/Brasil, 2007, p. 47; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 62.83.
The Brazilian-born António de Albuquerque Coelho (1682–1745), who as a mestizo held various administrative posts in the Portuguese colonial empire, most probably commissioned this plate to his father António de Albuquerque Coelho de Carvalho (1655– 1725) during his stay in Macao. His father was Governor General of Rio de Janeiro and Governor of São Paulo from 1709–1713, and Governor of Angola from 1722. The three existing services for members of the Coelho family differ in the number of rabbits (coelho) in the coat of arms. In the present charger there are seven hares in the coat of arms, which can be attributed to the examples owned by the father, while the coat of arms of the young António featured six hares and that of the brother four hares.
£500-800

Condition:
There is a large section of the rim lacking from the 2 o’clock to 4 o’clock position, none retained; there are general glaze losses and splinter chips to the edge.

Sold for £4,400