Decorated in the famille rose palette, and depicting a partially naked lady caressing a monkey in a landscape.
Decorated in the famille rose palette, and depicting a partially naked lady caressing a monkey in a landscape.
For a plate of this model, see François et Nicolas Hervouët, La porcelaine des Compagnie des Indes à décor occidental, sujets littéraires, anecdotiques, satiriques et historiques, 1986, pp. 136-137, no. 6.63.
This plate, from Philip Duval, NYC, ex Hervouët collection is now in the collection of the Musée de la Compagnie des Indes (Lorient, France).
Monkeys have been a symbol in world cultures for thousands of years, representing qualities ranging from fertility, to evil, lust and wisdom. The negative image that the monkey had in Western culture gradually changed in the 17th century when monkeys were used as symbols to satirize human behavior in Flemish genre painting. This visual art form became known as “singerie” (derived from the French word “monkey trick”), a genre that features fashionably attired monkeys humorously imitating human behavior. During the 18th century, the figure of the monkey is also associated to the exoticism.
This design is closed to an engraving of Edme Jeaurat (1688-1738), entitled “Dame jouant avec sa guenon” (circa 1710).
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