Master Art

Qianlong period 
European Market
A Chinese export porcelain dinner plate painted en grisaille and gilt with a central monogramme framed by a baroque canopy, drapes and floral swags, the rim with a du Paquier style border.
  This is a very finely painted example of this ‘pseudo-armorial’ type. It is almost certainly made for a marriage as the monogramme contains quite a few letters entwined and the canopy suggests a bed, with two billing doves below. Designs like this were frequently used as framing devices for vignettes and title page panels in books of the early 18th century, notably by the printmaker Bernard Picart.