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

ca. 1740–45
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 201
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dish with a scene of tea cultivation (one of a pair)
  • Date: ca. 1740–45
  • Culture: Chinese, for European, probably Dutch, market
  • Medium: Hard-paste porcelain painted with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware)
  • Dimensions: Overall: 1 5/16 × 13 3/4 in. (3.3 × 34.9 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics-Porcelain-Export
  • Credit Line: Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, Purchase, Winfield Foundation Gift, 1971
  • Object Number: 1971.32.2
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

More Artwork
Dinner plate, Hard-paste porcelain, Chinese, for Dutch market
Dinner plate
Chinese, for Dutch market
ca. 1740–45
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)
Chinese, for European, probably Dutch, market
ca. 1740–45
Pipa (琵琶 ), Wood, ivory, bone, silk, Chinese
Pipa (琵琶 )
Chinese
late 16th–early 17th century
Dish with stenciled decoration, Doccia Porcelain Manufactory Italian, Hard-paste porcelain painted with cobalt blue under transparent glaze, Italian, Florence
Dish with stenciled decoration
Manufactory Doccia Porcelain Manufactory
Factory director Marchese Carlo Ginori
ca. 1745
Jug with Portuguese arms, Hard-paste porcelain with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware), Chinese, for Portuguese market
Jug with Portuguese arms
Chinese, for Portuguese market
ca. 1520–40

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