Schotel van een koffie- en theeservies, beschilderd met figuren in een rivierenlandschap in bietenrood before 1778

This saucer, part of a coffee and tea service, was made by the Loosdrecht factory. It's decorated with figures in a river landscape, rendered in a distinctive beetroot red. The use of porcelain here is key. It's a material that carries a lot of cultural weight. For centuries, porcelain production was a closely guarded secret, and owning it signified wealth and status. Loosdrecht, like other European factories, was attempting to replicate the prized porcelain coming from China and Japan. The delicate painting on the saucer shows a highly skilled hand, but it’s important to remember that porcelain production involved many different kinds of labour, from the mining of clay to the operation of kilns. Appreciating this saucer means understanding the full chain of production, and the social dynamics that it represents. The value we ascribe to objects like this is always connected to the human effort involved in their making.