Cup in Canton porcelain and gilt bronze, circa 1880

Basin-shaped cup in Canton porcelain. Decor of four large cartouches framing Chinese style every day life scenes on a white background filled with roses and other vegetal scrolls. Lateral handles shaped as openwork vegetal scrolls in chiselled and gilt bronze. Mount in chiselled and gilt bronze.

Work realized circa 1880.

Dimensions : H 20 x W 45 x D 30 cm

Reference : LS4380431

The Canton porcelain is a type of porcelain with specific enamels decor, ordered by the East India Companies to Chinese porcelain manufacturers and exported to Europe in the 18th century.
Indeed, strangers who traded with China quickly became fond of porcelain to export it to Europe, notably because for many years they didn’t master the production technique. The porcelain was produced in China, in the Jingdezhen city, considered as the porcelain capital town since the Mongolian era (1271-1368). It was delivered by river barge : the production intended to the south of China left for Canton, in 900 km of Jingdezhen. Canton played a major role in Chinese trade since the 16th century, before the coming of Europeans in China because it simultaneously had a double maritime and fluvial access, that facilitated exchanges. Thereafter, in 1699, the Kangxi emperor authorized the opening to Europeans and it was the only city where they are authorized to make trade.
Canton was first a transaction place between different European India Companies, but rapidly in the second part of the 18th century it became a production place. Porcelain decorators came to install to win time and export white sets of Jingdezhen.
The decors were organized around pastoral scenes, religious themes or historical events. The craftsmen tried to copy as faithfully as possible the drawers of their European clients. Traditionally, the enamels decor of Canton is polychrome, in pink and/or green tones with more or less gilt highlights.