Tureen. Company of the Indies, 18th century. Ceramics. It has slight wear.

Tureen. Compañà a de Indias, 18th century.
Ceramic.
Slight wear and tear.
Measurements: 22 x 36 x 22 cm.
Tureen made of ceramic with blue polychromy that has a rectangular base structure with a lid topped with a slope. The ornamentation is based on the classic blue on white, which was so appreciated by collectors. The base, body and lid are decorated with vegetal ornamentation, with the area of the lid being the most realistic in that it contains a landscape. The piece is completed by the two handles and the top lid, which are designed as representations of animals. 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 export porcelain that was 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.