Description:
Chinese export porcelain plate, part of a 30-piece teaset with teapot, sugar bowl, creampot, butter tub with stand, seven teacups, seven saucers, and eleven plates (HD 83.018-HD 83.039). The set is decorated with elements of the pattern known as "Rose Mandarin" or ''Canton Famille Rose" with Chinese figures in a variety of interior and exterior settings in translucent green, lavender, orange-red, turquoise, yellow, black, blue, brown, grey, and gilding. Collectors often use the terms "Rose Medallion" to describe designs with usually birds, flowers, butterflies and Chinese figures arranged in four or more panels around a center medallion with a similar design; and/or ''Rose Mandarin" for usually one or more figures within a border of flowers, fruits and butterflies; or collectively "Canton Famille Rose." The version on this set evokes the earlier Famille verte palette with its predominent tones of green and lavender. Chinese society was and still is extremely reverential to its ancestors; reviving and replicating earlier enameling techniques was one way of paying tribute to the potters and ceramics of an earlier time. These types of porcelains are renowned for their ornate use of polychrome enamels and gilding, and their depictions of figures in a variety of settings, birds, butterflies, flowers, etc. Designed by the Chinese exclusively for the export market, the patterns for both Rose Mandarin and Medallion were derived from 18th century floral and figural designs on 'famille rose' porcelains and those porcelains made for the Western markets in the second half of the 18th century. These Rose Mandarin and Medallion patterns, fully developed by 1800, reached the peak of popularity in the 1820s and 1830s when the quality began to decline; the patterns remained in demand throughout the century but the quality was often very poor by the 1850s. The scenes on this set typify the early 19th century: Chinese figures in a pavilion or garden setting combined with intricate borders of flowers and birds. The shapes of these Chinese pieces closely follow popular forms in English porcelain and earthenware. The teacup’s “London shape,” with its characteristic undercut belly and angular handle, reflects the fashion of the early 19th century.
Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); polychrome; Porcelain Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+83.034 |
