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Duff, Governor, and his wife

Duff and his wife Export porcelain decoration from c. 1730 with a scene called "Governor Duff and his Wife", showing the Dutch couple strolling in a fenced Chinese garden, their small hound at their side, often in Chinese Imari and contained within an elaborate border of underglaze blue lappets issuing floral sprigs and alternating with gilt and iron-red still-life's of antiques and auspicious objects, the reverse with two sketchily painted flowering boughs. It has been the tradition to call this design 'Governor Duff and His Wife', referring to the Dutch governor-general Diederik Durven who held the office from 1729 to 1732. However, there is no actual evidence of this identification.

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