WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

38 ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008
28
An unusual pewter tray
17th century
Diameter: 11I in, 29.2 cm
of circular form with flared sides decorated
with a horizontal rib on the outside. The
well is incised with a lady and a gentleman
seated on soft-matted stools, playing flutes
in a garden setting with a large phoenix,
holding lingzhi fungus in its beak, flying
amid clouds before the sun. To one side is
a table with a qin, an incense burner and
vases upon it, beside a large rock and a
banana tree; to the other side is leafy
bamboo and in the foreground are further
vases, rocks and a table. The decoration is
enhanced by washes of copper and brass
and the rim is edged with brass.
A box and cover of similar size, illustrated
in Etains de Chine: Collection Ena et Henry
Maertens de Noordhout, no. 5, pp. 26–7,
bears similar decoration.
This type and style of subject is well known
on porcelain of the seventeenth century.