A CHINESE SOUP PLATE, amorial procelain. Qing dynasty, Qianlong (1736-95).

The service is most certainly made for Claes Grill (b19/4 1705 – 6/11 1767). He followed his father Abraham Grills footsteps and started at an early age to work for the in the family business. Claes father passed away in 1725, whereupon he and his uncle Carolos took over the firm. Carolos & Claes Grill soon became Sweden’s leading merchant house. Their trade involved, shipping, East-India trade, co-owner of sail and linen manufactory, glassworks, shipyards, a bank and they owned a line of mines and estates. The family was one of the first in investing in the new venture The Swedish East-India Company, and Claes became one of its directors in 1753. Claes married his cousin in 1737, Carolos daughter, the reputed beauty Anna Johanna.