Soup Plate c. 1770

This soup plate was made by the Worcester Royal Porcelain Company. The design is an imitation of Japanese ceramics, a popular style in Europe and North America from the mid-17th century onwards. The plate features a tiger, bird, and flowering branches, rendered in the Japanese “Kakiemon” style. The Worcester Royal Porcelain Company made pieces like this for wealthy consumers who wanted to signal their good taste by acquiring exotic luxury goods. These kinds of ceramics were often displayed in fashionable drawing rooms, in specially made display cabinets. The soup plate is more than just a decorative object. It’s a product of global trade, imperial expansion, and the social rituals of elite culture. Art historians explore such connections through archival sources, like trade records, museum collections, and domestic inventories, to better understand the cultural life of objects like this.