An 18th Century Chinese Export Porcelain Tea Canister Decorated in England.
A Chinese export porcelain tea canister, Qianlong period c.1750 – 1770. Decorated in England c.1760 – 1780 with black and gold with a rose and other flowers. There are some pink stains around the English gilding.
- Condition
- There is a rim crack.
- Size
- Height : 10.3 cm (4 inches).
- Provenance
- R and G McPherson 10th February 2012. stock number 22510.
- Stock number
- 24576
- References
- For a Chinese export porcelain coffee cup with similar decoration see : The Watney Collection of Chinese Porcelain Decorated in Holland and England. Bonham`s, New Bond street, London 7th November 2003, part of lot 78.
Photos
Information
English Decoration on White Chinese Porcelain :
This type of English enamel decoration on Chinese export porcelain should be seen in a different way to what is referred to as `over-decorated` or `clobbered` porcelain. Those terms refer to Chinese porcelain that was imported into Europe as finished articles, but were either too plain for merchants to sell or their profits could be enhanced by adding enamels over the existing Chinese decoration. The present example was plain white when it arrived in England, it would not have been salable and so no merchant would have ordered it to retail. However, James Giles must have ordered allot of white porcelain specifically for decoration at his workshop in London. The shapes ordered were the lasted fashion in Europe as was the decoration he added. To my mind this makes these objects separate and distinct from other Chinese porcelain, China only provided the blank `canvas` and even that was of a form dictated to by Europe. For this reason these objects could primarily be see as English, they would have been totally alien to the Chinese.