A pair of dishes with gilt bronze (ormolu) mounts

Title

Year/Period

17th century (ormolu later)

Region

Dehua, Fujian province, China

Object Type

dishes (vessels for food)

Material

porcelain (material), ormolu

Technique

molding (forming), pottery techniques, gilding (technique), metalworking

Dimension

Object size: 001 - 002: H4.0 x Dia 7.5 cm each

Accession No.

2000-03370

Collection of

Asian Civilisations Museum

Credit Line

Gift of Frank and Pamela Hickley

This pair of shallow cylindrical dishes is decorated with flowering plum blossom branches. The addition of metal mounts to Dehua porcelain was a popular practice in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. This feature added to the value of each piece. The more elaborate the piece with the mounts, the higher the value of the piece. Such dishes were exported to Europe and were used as salt cellars.Dehua, located on the southeast coast of Fujian province, is well known for its production of white porcelain, known to Europeans as 'blanc de Chine'. The earliest Dehua porcelain was produced as early as the 14th century but the production and quality of these porcelain peaked around the 17th and 18th centuries.