A RARE FAMILLE ROSE DUTCH ARMORIAL 'VOC' TEAPOT, COVER AND STAND Dated by inscription to 1728 (3)A RARE FAMILLE ROSE DUTCH ARMORIAL 'VOC' TEAPOT, COVER AND STANDDated by inscription to 1728The pear-shaped teapot finely enamelled on either side with the arms of the Dutch Republic flanked by crowned lions and the 'VOC' monogram beneath, decorated in red, pink, green, yellow and black enamels, applied with a C-shaped handle and straight spout, beneath the mouth rim with the inscription 'CRESCUNT.1728.CONCORDIA', the domed cover similarly decorated with two 'VOC' monograms, surmounted by a lotus-bud finial, the flat stand with rising sides and foliate rim, similarly decorated with the arms of the States General of the Dutch Republic above the VOC monogram, surrounded by the inscription 'CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCUNT 1728'. The teapot: 14.5cm (5 3/4in) long; the stand: 13.5cm (5 1/3in) wide (3).The Property of a LadyProvenance: a Western private collection, and thence by descentThe arms and motto on the present lot belong to the Dutch Republic. The letters 'VOC' are the cypher of the 'Verenigde Oost Indische Compagnie', the Dutch East India Company. The design has been accurately copied from one side of a silver coin, issued by the Company in 1728 for use in the Far East. Even the ribbed milling of the coin is imitated in the rim of the saucer and the mouth rim of the teapot and cover. The tea service to which this cup and saucer belonged was arguably commissioned by the Company to commemorate the successful launch of its new coinage and may possibly have been used by its employees at the Company's different official bases throughout the Far East. Other pieces from this service include cups and saucers in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc.no.645 and a-1907), in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands, and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; a plate in the Mottahedeh collection (Howard and Ayers, 1978, vol.I, pl. 191); a plate, teapot, cup and saucer at the Musees Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, Belgium (Jorg, 1989, no.36); a teapot without lid in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Lunsingh Scheurleer, 1974, no.267), and a teapot in the Africana Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa (Woodward, 1974, pl.Al). (Op. Cit. The British Museum, Franks.979)See also a related cup and saucer of this design which was sold at Christie's, New York, 24 January 2012, lot 105, from the Peter H.B.Frellinghuysen Jr. Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain.