Plate c. 1770

This plate was made by the Worcester Royal Porcelain Company, but we don't know exactly when. The company was founded in 1751, and the plate’s motifs connect it to the eighteenth-century vogue for chinoiserie. European manufacturers became fascinated by imported Chinese porcelain, which was admired for its delicacy and craftsmanship. European companies set out to imitate it. Here, you can see how the British ceramicists drew on a range of motifs associated with Asia: cranes, bamboo, and prunus blossoms. Such imagery was popular among elite consumers in Europe, who acquired these objects as fashionable novelties to display their wealth and taste. Historians research the global economy of luxury goods in order to shed light on the cultural exchanges and colonial dynamics of the eighteenth century. By studying such objects we can learn about the social aspirations of consumers, as well as the artistic and economic strategies of manufacturers.