This Japanese porcelain plate is decorated with a depiction of ladies with parasols, after a design of Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759). De highly detailed border decoration and the lovely insects on the back are hallmarks for these Pronk plates.

 

As an experiment, the VOC in 1734 commisioned a number of designs from Pronk to be used as examples for porcelain decoration. The drawing of the ‘Parasol Ladies’ was the first of four drawings that Pronk made. The governors in Batavia sent these pictures to China, as well as to Japan, with the instruction to decorate porcelain ware according to these examples. Soon the application of the designs appeared to be very time- consuming for the porcelain painters. Due to the fact that wages for decorators were much higher in Japan than they were in China, it was then soon decided only to order these plates in China.

 

This particular plate was made in Japan, and is therefore a rare and early example.