Dish with a scene of tea cultivation (one of a pair)

Chinese, for European, probably Dutch, market

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One of a pair of dishes belonged to a table service decorated with scenes of the cultivation of tea. This one depicts rattan being applied to the outside of a container, while on the right a man is packing tea by stomping it down. These cylindrical containers were used to transport the tea to Canton, where it was repacked in metal-lined wooden chests for shipment to Europe and elsewhere. Chinese potters' borrowing of French pottery motifs for the border design speaks to the stylistic cross-currents enabled by the extensive trade in the eighteenth century.

Dish with a scene of tea cultivation (one of a pair), Hard-paste porcelain painted with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), Chinese, for European, probably Dutch, market

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Dish with a scene of tea cultivation (one of a pair), Hard-paste porcelain painted with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), Chinese, for European, probably Dutch, market
Dish with a scene of tea cultivation (one of a pair), Hard-paste porcelain painted with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), Chinese, for European, probably Dutch, market

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