“From the notes of Jorge Welsh,The Sacristía Mayor is rendered in a simplified manner on the porcelain service decorated with famille rose enamels. However, there is, at least, one different version of this design on a Chinese blue and white service, showing greater detail in the architectural elements. This version reveals specific architectural features and allows a comparison with Louis Meunier’s later reproductions. The window in the wall of the small building attached to the cathedral, was only reproduced in a print entitled ‘La Lonja y la Catedral de Sevilla’, published in Juan Álvarez de Colmenar’s, ‘Les delices de l’Espagne et du Portugal’ in 1707, suggesting that this was possibly the pattern sent to China to be reproduced on Chinese porcelain.

This scene on Chinese porcelain was first identified by the Spanish collector Jose Ramon Sierra. Several examples of pieces from both the polychrome and underglaze blue services were illustrated in our 2016 catalogue ‘A Time and a Place: Views and Perspectives on Chinese Export Art’.

Added is a picture of a English version of this plate.