1526 Antique Chinese Porcelain Blue and white Dutch Pastoral Redecoration with Cows

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Description:

1526 Antique Chinese Porcelain Blue and white Dutch Pastoral Redecoration with Cows

Diameter: 142mm approx
Period:1750-1770
Code: 500

Provenance:

– Heritage Auctions

One of the strangest Amsterdam Bont bowls we have had. Later period after 1750 and of lower quality.

Pastoral Allegorical Meaning

A rustic allegory of fertility and desire: the natural world (animals, milk) symbolizing life’s productive and sensual forces.

• The two bulls or oxen represent masculine energy or competition;

• The milkmaid represents feminine fertility and nurture; erotic or amorous metaphor: “milking” as an image of sexual attention, fertility, and abundance. In Dutch and English 17th–18th c. slang, “melken” or “to milk” had secondary meanings of amorous engagement

• Together, they create a pastoral allegory of natural harmony and procreation — life’s productive cycle rendered through rustic imagery.