Chinese Export porcelain plate painted en grisaille with a portrait of Martin Luther flanked by two cherubs with feathered bodies, over a cartouche depicting Christ preaching to the Twelve Apostles, the elaborate border in the Viennese du Paquier style with six cartouche painted with animals.

China c. 1745
8.75" diameter

PRICE: $2,500  

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Condition: Fine condition- no chips cracks or repairs.

Martin Luther (1483-1546), one of the most influential religious leaders in history, is often credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation in 1517 with the publication of his Ninety Five Theses. The central design of this well documented plate was taken from an engraving by the Dutch artist Frans Brun (active 1627-1648) that was published in a Dutch Lutheran Bible in 1648. There are at least three different borders recorded for this well documented plate, and David Howard hypothesizes that it was intended to commemorate the bicentennial of Luther's death.

See:
Howard, David Sanctuary, and John Ayers. China for the West : Chinese Porcelain & Other Decorative Arts for Export Illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection. Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1978, vol 1, p.254.

Hervouet, Francois, et al. La Porcelaine Des Compagnies Des Indes, a Decor Occidental. Flammarion, 1986, p. 272.

Regina Krahl and Jessica Harrison-Hall. Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics from the British Museum, London, 1994. pp 120-121.

Litzenburg, Thomas V., et al. Chinese Export Porcelain in the Reeves Center Collection at Washington and Lee University. Third Millennium Pub., 2003, p.199.