A BLUE AND WHITE 'RIVER GODS IN DISTRESS' PLATE AFTER TEYLER Qianlong period, circa 1755-60 Painted in various shades of underglaze cobalt blue with a scene of six semi-naked figures on a small promontory with reeds, two standing, three seated and one prone with an arm outstretched in the river before them, two semi-naked children embraced to one side and reflected in the water below them, a rocky outcrop with trees and bushes rises to one side, all below a simple diaper-cell ground at the border, the reverse plain. 9in (23cm) diam Footnotes: 乾隆時期 約1755-60年 青花仿Teyler之《河神遭難》圖盤 Published: Cohen & Cohen, Baroque and Roll, Antwerp, 2015, pp. 80-81, no. 53 Cohen & Cohen, The Elephant in the Room, Antwerp, 2019, pp. 40-41, no. 16, see for an essay by Will Motley on the design and images of the print source. 出版： 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《Baroque and Roll》，安特衛普，2015年，頁80-81，圖版編號53 Cohen & Cohen，《The Elephant in the Room》，安特衛普，2019年，頁40-41，圖錄編號16，Will Motley撰文闡述此圖樣之設計與來源。 The scene shows a detail from a print by Johannes Teyler (1648-c. 1709) from his Opus Typochromaticum, depicting the 'Fall of Phaeton'. (fig. 1) Two other prints from this source are known on Chinese export porcelain. Phaethon, the son of the sun god Helios, begged his father to prove his paternity to his friends, so Helios swore an oath on the River Styx to grant any wish the youth wanted. Phaethon chose to ride the famous sun chariot and, despite his father's warning that the steeds were too strong for him, the young man took the reins. His lack of control led to disasters when he flew too low and scorched the earth. The part of the Teyler print illustrated here shows a group of river gods in distress. They petitioned Zeus to stop Phaeton's uncontrolled chariot ride as it caused their rivers to dry up. When Zeus killed Phaeton with a thunderbolt he fell into the river where he drowned. For other examples see, Hervouët et Bruneau, 1986, no. 9.42, 206, a saucer from the Groninger Museum; Sapage 1992, cat. 35, a pair of tea bowls and saucers, Victoria & Albert Museum, a plate, C.368-1921; Cohen & Cohen 2002, 12, an earlier lotus-form dish with this scene; see also Cohen & Cohen, Hit and Myth, Antwerp, 2014B, p. 85, no. 48, for a smaller plate offered as lot 66 in this sale. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ¤ ¤ Without reserve