Tray. Company of the Indies, 18th century. Ceramics. It presents a good state of conservation.

Tray. Compañà a de Indias, 18th century.
Ceramic.
In good state of preservation.
Measurements: 3 x 37.5 x 27.5 cm.
Porcelain tray with a white finish with ornamental motifs in cobalt blue. The decoration extends over the entire surface of the tray, from the outer perimeter where there is a design based on plant motifs to the centre where a view of a landscape can be observed.
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 connoisseurs of porcelain, so they made export porcelain, vulgar, even flawed, but which to Westerners were 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.