Plate, Qianlong c.1745, with the Dutch arms of Van Reverhorst
The design of this service is unique amongst all European armorial services. Encircling the central arms of the brothers Theodorus and Adriaan van Reverhorst and their siblings are the named shields of their eight armigerous great-grandparents suspended from two green branches in the manner of an ancestral family tree.
Theodorus (1706-58) and Adriaan (1720-51) were the third and tenth of the eleven children of Mauritius van Reverhorst, a prominent professor and physician in The Hague, both of whom served the VOC in Batavia. The brothers left for the East Indies in 1735, Theodorus serving as a Councillor in the Court of Justice of Batavia until 1752, marrying there in 1748. Adriaan, then only 15 years of age, became a junior merchant and supercargo, visiting Canton several times in the 1740s before dying at the age of 31. It is thought likely that Adriaan purchased the service on behalf of his brother, who maintained a fine and fashionable house in Batavia. Neither left heirs, and on the death of Theodorus in 1758 this and an earlier service were inherited by their brothers and sisters.
Paternal ancestors on the left / dexter: Van Reverhorst De Winter Vereijck De Bruijn
Maternal ancestors on the right / sinister: Schrevelius Van Peenen Van Groenendijk De Vroede
See further information in Newsletter No. 5 – available on the Newsletter page.
Reference : Kroes, Jochem; Chinese Armorial Porcelain for the Dutch Market, p. 316-7
Condition : Haircrack consolidated, barely visible just at the reverse rim; some retouching of enamel. Gilding on borders original and very bright.
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