Rare Chinese Export Okeover armorial plate circa 1740-3
arms of OKEOVER quartering BYRMINGHAM (probably) and LEAKE impaling NICHOL within elaborate rococo cartouche and mantling supported by hippocampi and pennants, framed within ornate foliage, with top and lower rim bearing monogram cartouches with initials LMO, flanked by ducal coronet with demi-dragon crest.
Dia.9 1/4"

Provenance: The collection of Colonel Sir Ian Walker-Okeover, Bt., D.S.O., sold, Christie's, London, March 3, 1975 (among the 42 plates in lots 177-183).
Purchased from Alfred Peter Rochelle-Thomas, Palm Beach, Florida in the November 1980.
Property from an Ohio private collection.

Literature: Ayers, John and Howard, David. CHINA FOR THE WEST. New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1978. pp.415, fig.413.

Howard, David. CHINESE ARMORIAL PORCELAIN. London: Faber, 1974. pp.398.

Other Notes: This service was made for Leake Okeover and Mary Nichol, who married in about 1730. The elaborate design for the service, painted by the English portraitist Arthur Devis (1708-87), which was sent to China to be copied, has survived and remains with descendants of the family, as does an original invoice dated 1743 for part of the service, which was addressed to 'Leake Okeover Esqre.' from Joseph Congreve, commander of the Prislowe; this invoice shows that the consignment comprised fifty plates and four large dishes with these arms.