A Chinese blue and white “Rotterdam Riots” plate. Kangxi period (1662-1722), ca. 1690-1695, with original Dutch silver medal 1690

Plate
 
Painted in underglaze blue, the center with figures attacking the house of the bailiff Jacob van Zuylen van Nyevelt within a diaper border reserved with panels painted with flowers and fruits, the base with an apocryphal Chenghua mark.
 
Diameter: 20.3 cm
Weight: 278.08 g
 
Medal
 
Obverse: UBI INTERFICERE FAS EST, IBI DESTRUERE / IAC: SUYLE A NYEVELT PRÆT: / ROTT: DOMI DESTRUCTIO. / D.6 OCTOB:1690., detailed scene of destruction of the bailiff’s house
Reverse: QUID MEMOREM INFANDAS CÆDES, QUID FACTA TYRANNI, the chopped off head of Kosterman on altar with skyline of Rotterdam in the background
 
By J. Smeltzing
 
VERY RARE AS A SET
 
The riots occurred in Rotterdam between September and October 1690, after a young guard, Cornelius Kosterman, accidentally killed a man while smuggling wine into the city hall to celebrate with his colleagues. Kosterman was sentenced to death by then Chief Bailiff Jacob van Zuylen van Nyevelt. The public was enraged by the injustice and riots ensued.
The source of the subject matter comes from the medal struck by Dutch medalist Johannes Smeltzing (1656-1693) after an engraving by G. van Loon.
The Medal was struck in silver, pewter and gold (L.S. Forrer Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Vol V, p. 550) despite the 1688 Dutch edict that prohibited the making, printing, and retailing of “scandalous and infamous lampoons”. The Smeltzing medal was secretly sent to China as a model for a large porcelain order. Howard & Ayers, China for the West, vol.I, p. 60, gives a detailed account of this riot following the execution of Cornelis Kosterman in 1690. A severed head of Cornelis Kosterman on a funerary monument, which was taken from the reverse of the medal is shown in the well of the teabowls. This designs is usually encountered on standard 8 1/2 inch plates. Small teabowls and saucers appear to be the only other objects this design was used for.
 
‘Rotterdam Riot’ plates were noted in François and Nicole Hervouët and Yves Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, cat. no. 9.35, as the earliest example of Chinese export porcelain documented with European historical and political subjects.