67. RARE ASSIETTE EN ÉMAUX PEINTS ARMORIÉE ca. 1738 A RARE FAMILLE ROSE PAINTED ENAMEL ARMORIAL SAUCER DISH ca. 1738 Painted in wash technique in polychrome enamels and gilt details with a central medallion containing the arms of Silvio Valenti Gonzaga of Mantua, flanked by a pair of pheasants perched on craggy rockwork and large peony flowers, the sides painted with four large ruyi-shaped panels each with a single flower on a dense scrollwork ground, alternating with four large lotus blooms bearing the quarterings of the arms, the underside painted white. 15.4cm (6in) diam. 約1738年 銅胎畫琺瑯開光綬帶紋章盤 This rare dish is part of a service made for Silvio Valenti Gonzaga of Mantua, who was made Cardinal in 1738. Letitia Roberts notes that 'if the rendering of the ecclesiastical hat with its three rows of tassels is correct, then the service must have been commissioned prior to Valenti's elevation, and would be among the earliest datable pieces of armorial enamel', see her note on a dish and saucer of this service, sold Sotheby's New York, 29 January 1987, lot 591A. Very few dishes of this service are known, compare one illustrated in J.A.Lloyd Hyde, Chinese Painted Enamels from Private and Museum Collections, New York, 1969, cat.no.39; see another example published by M.Gillingham, Chinese Painted Enamels, Oxford, 1978, cat.no.105. Compare with another dish illustrated by M.Gillingham, Chinese Painted Enamels of the 18th Century, New York, 1993, cat.no.67.