A very rare and unusual, to say the least, Chinese export porcelain tea bowl and saucer decorated with images from the “Miracle at Zaandam” a highly publicized and sensational event that occurred in the Netherlands in 1647.  As the story goes, a young man flying a kite in a field attracted and agitated a bull who then charged and attacked a farmer; the pregnant farmer’s wife went to the aid of her husband and the bull turned on the woman flipping her through the air – the trauma of which caused her to give birth in mid-air, the moment in the story illustrated here. Why this is called the “miracle” at Zaandam is hard to understand as both parents died on the spot and the flying baby survived nine months and then joined them. But, the event was still being remembered around a century later when this tea set was special-ordered, both tea bowl and saucer inscribed on the reverse August 29, 1647.  Illustrated and discussed in many publications including Hervouet and Bruneau’s La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a Decor Occidentale pages 380-381.  2 cm. line sealed to the rim of the saucer, otherwise, it’s in “miraculous” condition. Circa 1745.