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Tureen
Unknown - Enlarge image
Tureen
- Place of origin:
China (made)
- Date:
ca. 1750 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Porcelain painted in overglaze polychrome enamels and decorated with gilt
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Basil Ionides
- Museum number:
CIRC.160-1963
- Gallery location:
On Display
The biblical scene on the tureen, taken from Genesis (24, 15-20), captures the moment when Abraham's servant, Eliezer, dispatched by his master to choose a wife for his son Isaac, meets Rebecca, who is drawing water from a well with her maidens. According to the story, having reached the town of Nachor Eliezer prayed that the first woman who offered him and his camels water would become Isaac's wife.
A dish with an identical decoration was found by Michael Hatcher in 1985 in the cargo of the Geldermalsen, a VOC ship that sank in January 1752 while sailing from Canton to Batavia. Other similar dishes are known, including one in the V&A collection (C.771-1917), but the tureen is perhaps the only example of a serving vessel with this scene.
