Rare Regency Polychrome Painted Pottery Tableau of Two Chinoiserie Card-Players
A rare Regency polychrome painted pottery diorama of two Chinoiserie card-players, shown in traditional dress and with nodding heads seated at a circular table with cards also strewn across the chequered floor. The left hand figure nodding his head in amusement at the right hand figure, who shakes his head with frustration, having dropped his cards on the floor
Painted pottery or plaster nodding-head chinoiserie figures are usually assumed to date from the late George III or Regency period, due to the influence of The Prince Regent’s adoption of the Chinese style for his Summer residence, The Royal Pavilion in Brighton. A pair of standing figures actually appear in a portrait of the Prince’s mother, Queen Charlotte, with the Prince as a young child in fancy dress, painted by Johan Zoffany in 1765.
Playing cards were most likely invented in China during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and were certainly recorded in use by the time of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). The depiction of Oriental figures in domestic scenes had been popular in Europe from the time of the publication by Johann Nieuhof of his images from the mid 17th century United Provinces’ embassy to China in 1665, though the present figures. seem to owe more to the designs of Jean-Baptiste Pillement, Gabriel Huquier or Jean-Antoine Fraisse
