A pair of Chinese blue and white plates with coat of arms of ‘Potken’, Kangxi

Dia.: 24,5 cm

The wide everted rim decorated with flowers and foliage. In the center a simple armorial shield contains a cauldron (kookpot) within a circular and dense foliate border. On the reverse there is a lozenge mark in a double circle and as two flower sprays on the rim.

The coat of arms with the cauldron has usually been attributed to Roerom from Dordrecht, but this family became extinct at the beginning of the 18th century. There are other possibilities, such as Potken, Emilius, Van der Pot (Rotterdam, Vlaardingen) and Pots (The Hague). In most cases these families have punning arms (sprekend wapen), their names containing the word pot. Amongst them the Potken family is the only one with a strong connection with the VOC and the East Indies, with Ceylon in particular, which is why this family is the most likely to have commissioned this armorial porcelain.