Yongzheng English Market Mertins-Peck Armorial 4636c
A fine example of this well-known Chinese export porcelain made for the English Market, bearing the Arms of Mertins impaling Peck, and finely rendered in early, Yongzheng period, famille rose enamels. Sir George Mertins was a Sheriff of Essex in 1705 and a Lord Mayor of London in 1725. His son, John Henry Mertins married one Elizabeth Peck in 1717 and it is most likely for that union that this service was ordered. The flamboyant armorial is centered within a gilded and iron red cell-work border with reserves of Daoist emblems; the outer rim border with meandering flowering vines and peony blossoms. Measuring 9 3/4″ in diameter, and in very fine condition with the exception of a star line to the glaze on the reverse. Illustrated in Howard’s Chinese Armorial Porcelain, Vol. I, page 213. Circa 1725.