A VERY FINE AND RARE PAIR OF CHINESE PORCELAIN SAUCER DISHES...

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£20,000 - £30,000

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A VERY FINE AND RARE PAIR OF CHINESE PORCELAIN SAUCER DISHES
JIAQING SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1796-1820)
each painted in the centre with three peach flowers on scrolling branches with leaves circling three peaches dispersed between three shou characters, within double lines repeated beneath the rim, the undersides similarly painted with ribbon tied ruyi-heads.
11cm diameter.

From the collection of Ludwik Rajchman (1881-1965), thence by direct descent. Purchased in China in the 1930's while he was serving as the first Director of the League of Nations Health Organisation (1921-1938).

A bacteriologist by training in his homeland, Poland, Rajchman was very active in his early career in the fight against several waves of a typhus epidemic which was devastating Eastern Europe. For this success, he was identified as an important medical coordinator by the League of Nations, which appointed him in 1921 to set up a Health Organisation for the League of Nations based in Europe. As part of his innovative international medical programmes, he visited China regularly, and played an important role in helping the Chinese establish a a quarantine system on the China/Japan border. He was held in great esteem by the Chinese population during the 1920s and 30's. He was a close friend of the wife and family of T.V. Soong, the Chinese Minister of Finance, who became head of the Bank of China during the Second World War. (T.V. Song's sister Mei-Ling would later marry President Chiang Kai- Shek).

As a direct result of his friendship with the major political figures in China during the later years of the Republic, Ludwik Rajchman was detested by the victorious Chinese Communist factions. After the War, therefore, he turned his attention to new challenges. When the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration announced at a United Nations meeting in Geneva that it would be putting an end to its relief efforts, Rajchman objected vociferously and called for the creation of a Fund dedicated to helping children throughout the world. His proposal was accepted and by the beginning of 1947, the new body called UNICEF was already helping children, notably in nutrition and immunisation. Rajchman remained Chairman of the Board at UNICEF until 1950 and refused to be paid for his work.