A Chinese verte-imari 'Governor Duff' saucer-dish

The couple depicted on the dish is often referred to as Governor Duff and his wife, which is suggested to be the name the Chinese gave Diederick Duiver (1676-1740, Governor of the Dutch East India Company from 1729-1731), as they were unable to pronounce his name correctly. The same couple has also been described as Louis XIV and Mme de Montespan or simply a Frisian couple. For a further discussion on Duff, see D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinese Export Porcelain, London, 1974, p. 137 and fig. 203 for a similar example in the Rijksmuseum.