Coffee Pot 1765 - 1770

This porcelain coffee pot was made by the Derby Porcelain Manufactory in England between 1751 and 1785. The blue and white design imitates Chinese porcelain, a highly sought-after commodity at the time, a signifier of wealth and taste. The images decorating the pot show an idealized, exoticized vision of India, complete with palm trees, elephants, and figures in turbans. This picturesque, invented version of the East was fashionable in Europe at the time, revealing the power dynamics between colonizer and colonized. The pot is not just a functional object, it is a statement about Britain's global reach and imperial ambitions. To understand this coffee pot fully, we can delve into trade records of the East India Company and printed sources that circulated images and descriptions of India. This approach allows us to see how art is deeply embedded in broader social, economic, and political histories.