This cup and saucer were made in imitation of Dehua wares. The cup has a tumbler-like form with straight walls and a tall foot which fits neatly into the raised rim at the centre of the saucer. The cup and saucer are thickly moulded using European soft paste porcelain. They have relief moulded decoration in the form of plum blossom sprays. The yellowish-toned glaze is pitted in places. The shape of the saucers was known as ‘trembleuse’, which refers to the trembling of the cup while the beverage is stirred. They were reportedly made due to a lack of saucers from Dehua. Moulded prunus sprays applied on Dehua porcelain was the decoration most widely reproduced on Western copies. Here, the prunus blossoms are combined with other plants. Dehua (in Fujian province, China) produced white wares that greatly influenced European porcelain. Such porcelain were admired and collected in the West, where they were known as 'blanc de Chine' or white porcelain. This example is evidence of the widespread imitation of Dehua porcelain in Europe during the first half of the 18th century.
