A pair of armorial dinner plates, Qing dynasty, 18th Century.
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Decorated with a pair of entwined cranes with a cricket in their beaks. Around the rim a garland with flowers and mussels. The rim with a relief of scrolling peonies. Diameter 22.5 cm.
Crack, chip, crazing to glaze.
Provenance
Possibly commissioned for the wedding between Claes Grill (1705-1767) – and his cousin Anna Johanna Grill in 1737.
Claes Grill was one of the most powerful men in Sweden during the 18th Century. He was a director of the Swedish East-India Company, owner of Sweden’s leading merchant house Claes & Carolos Grill, their trade involved shipping, co-owner of a sail and linen manufactory, glassworks, shipyards, a bank and he owned a line of mines and estates. This theory is based on dating of the porcelain and the similarity with a Yongzheng mark and period pieces.
But there is also a possibility that the service was made for Adolph Ulric (1752-1797) som 1778 who marries his cousin Anna Johanna (III) (1753-1809), in 1778. If so it might be designed by Jean Eric Rehn.
The Grill family derives from a Dutch noble family and was not introduced in Sweden. They used the crane with a cricket in its beak as their coat of arms. The enlaced cranes on the service carries the thoughts to the alliance between the two members of the Grill family.