Cup and saucer 1770 - 1780

This elegant cup and saucer was made at La Courtille, one of the many porcelain factories that flourished around Paris after 1770. Tea and coffee were becoming increasingly popular in France at this time and porcelain tableware became a status symbol for the rising middle classes. Note the delicate floral decorations on the cup and saucer, reflecting the taste for naturalism that spread across Europe in the late 18th century, a trend that directly benefitted the La Courtille factory. The factory became a vital supplier of luxury goods to an aspirational urban class in Paris. Art historians look into trade statistics, factory records and social histories, to gain insight into the networks of commerce and consumption that drove the art world of the past, reminding us that artistic value is always a product of its specific social and institutional circumstances.