Teapot and cover 1759 - 1762

Curator: At the Harvard Art Museums, we have a porcelain teapot and cover, made at the Frankenthal Porcelain Manufactory. The vessel itself is rather diminutive, about 11 centimeters high. Editor: What strikes me is the delicate image of a military procession painted on its side—almost like a dreamscape amidst daily life. Curator: Indeed. Images of military power often reflected status and aspirations. Tea rituals became social theater, and this detailed scene, repeatedly viewed, reinforced ideas of leadership and authority. Editor: It’s fascinating how the consumption of tea, enabled by trade routes and colonial economies, is here married to local European power structures through the labor of porcelain production. The material and the image become intertwined. Curator: A powerful intersection of function and symbolism. The image persists through form. Editor: Exactly. It’s a potent reminder of how objects can carry complex social narratives.