TWO CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN PLATES OF THE SHAREHOLDERS SERIES, YONGZHENG PERIOD CIRCA 1720-1725 Decorated in blue, red and gold with doucaï enamels in the centre with a commedia dell' arte figure standing on one leg, on a tiled floor and under a ceiling of beams and surrounded by the inscription in Dutch in two lines: Schyt actien enwindhandel - "Agiotage et spéculation me font chier", the wing decorated with blue, green and gold foliage. D.21.2 cm (8 ¼ in.) Two Chinese export porcelain plates, "Actionnaires" series, Yongzheng period, circa 1720-1725 These plates are part of a series of six known as the shareholders' plates commissioned for the Dutch market in the early 1720s, and sarcastically illustrate the South Sea bubble, the collapse of Law's system and the bankruptcies of numerous English, French and Dutch Companies. At the beginning of the 18th century, the speculation raging in France and England spread to the Netherlands. The Dutch became massive shareholders in Law's company in Paris and in countless English companies, including the South Sea Company. Most of the larger towns in the Netherlands set up their own companies. From 1719 onwards, bankruptcies proliferated, Law's system collapsed, the South Sea bubble burst and equity holders were ruined. Newspapers, engravings, playing cards, theatre and porcelain were all used to satirise speculation. Our series of plates pokes fun at shareholders and companies in the Netherlands. Two other slightly later series of plates, in predominantly iron red and gold, are derived from this first series. A complete series of six plates from the collection of Mr and Mrs Y. Rafi Mottahedeh was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 30 January 1985, lot 140 and is illustrated and described in Howard and Ayers, China for the West, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 234 and 235, no. 230. The six plates are also reproduced in Hervouët and Bruneau, Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, pl. 9.55-9.60. The last complete set to go on sale was at Christie's Amsterdam, 16 April 2002, lot 1308.