Pair of plates: Compañà a de Indias, 18th century. Ceramics. They have pockmarks on the edges.

Pair of plates of the Company of the Indies, 18th century.
Ceramic.
The rims are pitted.
Measurements: 2 x 23 cm (x2).
Set comprising two ceramic dishes decorated with cobalt enamels on white slip. Both have a similar design although the ornamentation of the background differs as one shows the view of a landscape, while the other has a floral composition. The East India Company was a generic term for companies that managed trade between a European metropolis and its colonies. Chinese manufacturers soon realised that Europeans were not experts in porcelain, and produced a vulgar, even flawed porcelain for export, but which in the eyes of Westerners turned out to be true works of art. Once the trade was regularly organised, the India Companies supplied Chinese artists with European models, both for forms and decoration. Throughout the 18th century the blue-and-white series persisted, but of inferior quality, which was then called Nanjing porcelain.