soup bowl, armorial, Chinese export ware of circular form decorated in iron-red, encre de chine blue and gilding, centered with the arms of Saunders and bordered by a band of European decoration to the rim with rococo scrolls and panel en grisaille and to the centre with a large armorial crest.

The border of this plate is painted en grisaille with a European strapwork design reminiscent of the style introduced by Cornelis Pronk and there is a gilt rim and an inner line of spearheads. Within the border there are laurel wreathes and pairs of billing doves symbolising matrimony and love. The central arms with the elaborate mantling typical of the 1740s might appear to be rather dull, with its colours of iron-red, gilt and black, but the base of the shield and the two upper elephant heads were originally enamelled in silver which has tarnished over time.

The plate is from a service made for Thomas Saunders and it takes us to India and the East India Company headquarters at Fort St George, Madras. Thomas Saunders was appointed Governor of Madras on 19 September 1750; he remained as Governor of Madras until 14 January 1755 when he returned to England.

"The arms are for Saunders, probably made for Thomas Saunders (1713-1775) who married Christian, daughter of Thomas Pitt of Boconoc, Cornwall. Saunders was Governor of Fort St George, Madras, (1750-1755). He was considered a successful and honourable man, he resigned for the sake of his health and left for Europe on 14 January 1755, carrying with him what was considered by Robert Orme as only a ‘Moderate fortune’ when a corrupt man in his position might have made much more. Orme later remarked, he was ‘the Man on Earth I should dread [most] as an Enemy’."