Collection
/
Decorative Arts and Design

Plate

ca. 1760

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Caption

Plate, ca. 1760. Decorated porcelain, 1 x 8 7/8 in. (2.5 x 22.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Reverend Alfred Duane Pell, 03.328.204. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.03.328.204.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Plate

Date

ca. 1760

Medium

Decorated porcelain

Classification

Ceramic

Dimensions

1 x 8 7/8 in. (2.5 x 22.5 cm)

Markings

Five imitation Chinese characters.

Credit Line

Gift of Reverend Alfred Duane Pell

Accession Number

03.328.204

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • This label says this is from England but it looks more like Chinese art. Is there any story behind?

    Absolutely! China invented porcelain and for a long time was the only country to make it. Europeans were fascinated by porcelain and imported it from China (and later Japan) by the shipload. In the early years it was very expensive and only the wealthiest Europeans could afford it.
    English potters tried to imitate Chinese porcelain and would copy Chinese motifs as models. This imitation porcelain was more affordable, and was popular with the European middle class.
    Oh wow!!!! That's so cool! How do you know that this one is England made but not China made? How can you tell?
    Before Europeans learned how to make porcelain, they would use regular earthenware (not the pure white kaoline clay used to make porcelain) and just glaze it white to resemble porcelain. A good trick for telling them apart is to look for chips: if it's chipped and the clay inside is white, it's porcelain; if the clay inside is brownish or red, it's glazed earthenware! Additionally, the painted decorations on English earthenware usually doesn't match the level of skill seen in Chinese ceramics.

  • Tell me more.

    This plate is an English imitation of Asian porcelain. Europeans, mostly the Dutch, imported large quantities of porcelain in the 18th century.
    The scene on the plate shows a young boy with a man holding what may be a gun.
    Cool!
    Thanks!

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