YONGZHENG PERIOD, CIRCA 1728

The arms are those of the State of Holland, above the V.O.C. cypher of the Dutch East India Company. The design was probably taken from a silver ducatoon of 1728 with the striped band at the border imitating the ribbed milling of the coin. See D. Howard and J. Ayers, China for the West, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 194, no. 191 for a similar plate and a discussion on the dating of this service. Clare Le Corbeiller has argued, based on the presence of this pattern at V.O.C. centers worldwide, that the service was produced for use by company officers posted both at home and abroad. See C. Le Corbeiller, China Trade Porcelain: Patterns of Exchange, New York, 1974, p. 104, no. 43.