C557: Plate

This plate was made during the reign of Emperor Ch’ien Lung (1735-96) specifically for export to the West.  It is decorated in a style known as famille rose because of the prominent pink enamel that was introduced from Europe. Chinese export porcelain is composed of  kaolin (China clay) and petunse (China Stone), fired at approximately 1,280ºC. Beautiful new coloured enamels were introduced, including the famous green and rose pink (famille vert and famille rose)  in response to European demand for polychrome wares. Many of the export pieces were decorated with delicate flowers, birds, animals and domestic scenes, which were to be copied on European porcelain. 

After 1700 exports of Chinese porcelain to Europe were massive. The southern port city of Guangzhou (Canton) was the centre of this trade. At any one time, twenty or thirty European ships might be anchored outside the harbour, waiting to load cargoes of tea, porcelain, lacquer and silks. One ship alone might carry as many as 250,000 pieces of porcelain. 

Most of the porcelain was made and fired at Jingdezhen, but from about 1740 much of the coloured enamel decoration was carried out in Guangzhou itself, close at hand for the European merchants who commissioned and purchased the  wares.