Chinese Export Porcelain Famille Rose Botanical Soup Tureen & Cover

Details

Description

Exotic Blooms: A Chinese Export Tureen with European Floral Motifs
Origin: Jingdezhen, China (for the European market) Period: Qianlong (c. … Read more Exotic Blooms: A Chinese Export Tureen with European Floral Motifs
Origin: Jingdezhen, China (for the European market) Period: Qianlong (c. 1780)

This impressive octagonal soup tureen and cover is a superb example of Chinese Export Porcelain, demonstrating how wares made in China were customized to European tastes in the late 18th century.

The decoration belongs to the Famille Rose palette, characterized by its vibrant, opaque overglaze enamels. However, the motifs are distinctly European: large, lush botanical bouquets painted in pink and purple dominate the body and cover, featuring European garden flowers rather than traditional Chinese flora. This highlights the successful commercial exchange where Chinese artisans skillfully executed foreign designs also known as “Chine de Commande.”

Design and Detail

• Finial: The cover is surmounted by a large, dramatically molded finial in the form of a detailed flower head, accented with orange, green, and gold gilding, a common feature on high-status serving pieces.

• Border: The rims feature an unusually wide, shaped border of diaper pattern in pink and purple, which contrasts with the soft floral arrangement and frames the composition.

• Form: The tureen’s shape, likely modeled after a contemporary European silver or pottery design, underscores its function as a central element of a fashionable 18th-century dining service.

Dimensions: 8 1/2 inches high x 14 inches wide x 8 7/8 deep, (21.59cms high x 35.56cm wide x 22.55cm deep)

Some fritting to the noses of the rabbit handles.

• Public Collections: The collection of Chinese Export Porcelain at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) and the Peabody Essex Museum.

• Specialist Literature:
o Howard, David S., Chinese Armorial Porcelain (for context on bespoke Chinese export orders).
o Jorg, Christiaan J. A., Porcelain and the Dutch China Trade (for general 18-century export documentation).
o Veiga, Jorge Getulio., Chinese Export Porcelain in Private Brazilian Collections (for examples of 18-century export forms).

(Ref: NY10094-irrr) See less