Dish with a scene of tea cultivation (one of a pair)
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
- 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
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Chinese, for European, probably Dutch, market
ca. 1740–45
Chinese, for Dutch market
ca. 1740–45
Chinese, for European market
late 17th century
Chinese, for European market
1700–1725
Chinese, for the Continental European market
1725–30
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