Double Peacock Dinner Service
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The Double Peacock Service is a pattern in
Chinese export porcelain Chinese export porcelain includes a wide range of Chinese porcelain that was made (almost) exclusively for export to Europe and later to North America between the 16th and the 20th century. Whether wares made for non-Western markets are covered ...
, using fine quality
hard-paste porcelain Hard-paste porcelain, sometimes "true porcelain", is a ceramic material that was originally made from a compound of the feldspathic rock petuntse and kaolin fired at very high temperature, usually around 1400  °C. It was first made in China a ...
for dinner and other services, in the European taste. Produced on order and perhaps for stock in China in the 18th century, it was brought to Europe and sold by the European trading companies. Technically, it is very characteristic of the Chinese export porcelain dinner services made in China to be used in Europe. Estimates say that about twenty thousand pieces of the "Peacock Service" (also known as "Double Peacock Service" or "Two Peacocks Service") were produced between 1750 and 1795, and today, perhaps 5,000 pieces survive, distributed throughout the world. This pattern is specially collected in Brazil, Portugal and England, and can be found in many museums. With octagonal, rococo design or, in its latest batches, rounded shapes, the plate is made of white
porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
, decorated with
overglaze enamels Overglaze decoration, overglaze enamelling or on-glaze decoration is a method of decorating pottery, most often porcelain, where the coloured decoration is applied on top of the already fired and glazed surface, and then fixed in a second firing ...
with the customary colours of the so-called "''
Famille Rose Famille rose (French for "pink family") is a type of Chinese porcelain introduced in the 18th century and defined by the presence of pink colour overglaze enamel. It is a Western classification for Qing dynasty porcelain known in Chinese by va ...
''" style. The border contains four branches forming a cross and the edge in ''rouge de fer'', always alternated with eye-catching stylizations of blue branches. In the center, two peacocks placed over rocks and a branch with big peonies, separated from the border of the piece by a
fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
frieze. Besides plates of several sizes, many types of tureens, pots, gravy boats, platters with different shapes, butter tubs, honey and salt dishes, wine-coolers and bowls were made. The name "Peacock Service" is used because this china has as decoration two of these animals on rocks, as its main element. The expert Almeida Santos wrote in his ''Manual do Colecionador Brasileiro'' (''Guide for the Brazilian Collector''): "The services for imperial use, in Brazil, include the "Roosters", the "Shepherds", and the "Peacocks". The Double Peacock Service is the finest one of the "Famille Rose" and was made on demand for Europe, without any doubt. The "Peacocks" are very well designed. By the way, the chinaware is, let us say, a mix of the "Famille Verte" and the "Famille Rose". It has large roses painted showing up, which forces the classification as "Famille Rose", but the decoration in general is characteristic of the "Famille Verte", with landscapes and fowls."] It is a service known as a "traveller", because it was taken from China to Portugal, and from Portugal to Brazil, when John VI of Portugal, John VI, then Prince of Portugal, alarmed by the
Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
, moved to
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
with his mother,
Queen Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
. In Brazil, it was used in the ''Paço de São Cristóvão''. The Chinese porcelain services for imperial use, brought to Brazil by King John were dispersed after the Proclamation of the Republic, and as such they have become extremely rare pieces, largely sought by collectors from all over the world. Currently, pieces are sold mostly by the main auctioneers of Europe and the United States. A search on the Internet shows that many pieces have been sold in the last 20 years by
Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
,
Bonham's Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought tog ...

Christie's
and
Bukowskis Bukowskis is a Scandinavian fine art and antique auction house established in 1870 by the Polish nobleman Henryk Bukowski in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1979, an office was opened in Helsinki, Finland. In January 2022, Bukowskis was acquired by Bonhams ...
auction houses. Pieces of this specific service are also part of the porcelain collection of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum in Charleston, in the United States, as well as of the Historical National Museum of Brazil and the Ema Klabin Foundation. Quite a few double peacock patterns were made in the 18th and 19th centuries, inspired by this one, that are also cited in the bibliography about Chinese Export Porcelain. However, it is this very specific pattern that is often sold as King John VI's dinner service. Jorge Veiga dedicated pages 177 to 179 of his renowned book
Chinese Export Porcelain in Private Brazilian Collections
to this dinner service and established that there are five different patterns that are considered specially valuable by collectors.


Bibliography


ALMEIDA SANTOS, José de. Manual do Colecionador Brasileiro. 1950.VEIGA, Jorge Getúlio. A Porcelana da Companhia das Índias nas Coleções Particulares Brasileiras. 1986.BRANCANTE, Eldino da Fonseca. O Brasil e a louça da Índia. 1950.MORAN, Mark (org.). Antique Trader Oriental Antiques & Arts: An Identification and Price Guide. 2003.


References

{{Porcelain Individual pieces of porcelain Chinese ceramic works Individual patterns of tableware