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Plate (pannekoeck)
Marked by: Pieter Adriaensz Kocks, Proprietor, Greek A factory (active 1701–1703)
Dutch (Delft)
about 1700-1720
Medium/Technique
Tin-glazed earthenware, colored enamels.
Dimensions
Height: 22 cm (8 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
The G. Ephis Collection—Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously, Charles Bain Hoyt Fund, John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Mary S. and Edward J. Holmes Fund, William Francis Warden Fund, Tamara Petrosian Davis Sculpture Fund, John Lowell Gardner Fund, Seth K. Sweetser Fund, H. E. Bolles Fund, and funds by exchange from the Kiyi and Edward M. Pflueger Collection-Bequest of Edward M. Pflueger and Gift of Kiyi Powers Pflueger
Accession Number2012.611
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
The act of copying someone else is a nod of appreciation. Here, Dutch ceramicist Pieter Kocks, who worked in Delft, imitates both Japanese and Chinese porcelain. These imported wares began to arrive in large quantities in the Netherlands in the first half of the 17th century. This plate combines Japanese colors (blue, gold, red, and white) with Chinese imagery of an elongated female figure and a jumping boy. We don’t know whether Kocks ever met a person of Asian descent, but it is clear that here he was simply copying—almost exactly—the figures on authentic Asian porcelain.
DescriptionPlate with both high and low-fired polychrome blue, red, turquoise, and yellow decoration depicting a mix of Japanese Imari style and Chinese motifs, such as the peony branches behind the clouds and to the right of a tall woman holding large flowers behind a three-sided enclosure in a garden with a dansing child and a winged phoenix (symbol of the Empress of China).
Marks
Conjoined "PAK" in overglaze iron-red on underside, a mark used after his death and until 1722 by his widow, Johanna van der Heul.
InscriptionsPaper label: "Collection G. Ephis / DELFT 047"
Provenance1994, sold by J. M. Béalu et fils (dealer), Paris, to the G. Ephis collection (private collector), France; 2012, sold by the G. Ephis collection to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 24, 2012).