清乾隆 粉彩描金松石绿地开光惠山煮泉观卷图御制诗茶壶

• Chinese porcelain and tea-drinking were the rage of fashionable Europe when Jean-Étienne Liotard was born. He began painting tea and coffee sets in the last two decades of his life when age, changes in taste, and his political beliefs caused a decline in requests for the pastel portraits that were his specialty. He had, however, been including fruit and porcelain still lifes in some of his portraits since about 1740. Only five of his paintings of tea and coffee sets are known today.

• In this painting of tea-time disarray, a tray is set with six cups and saucers, a teapot, sugar bowl, milk jug, and a lidded vase perhaps containing an extra supply of tea leaves. A large bowl holding a teacup and saucer could also be used for dumping the slops of cold tea and used tea leaves. By the time Liotard painted this work in the late 1700s, tea-drinking had become fashionable among the middle as well as the upper classes. Liotard contrasted the luxurious materials of Chinese porcelain and silver with a cheaper tray of painted tin, known as tôle, that imitated Asian lacquer. Combining the transparent, reflective and brightly-patterned objects allowed the artist to portray strong visual contrasts.

• Lowestoft (porcelain factory), Teapot, English, c. 1785, soft-paste porcelain painted in overglaze enamels,in red, brown, green, crimson and grey with a Chinese woman and boy in a garden, repeated. 15.2cm h., 11.7cm d., Victoria and Albert Museum, London

• Teapot and cover, soft-paste porcelain painted in enamel colours, made by Lowestoft porcelain factory, England, ca. 1780. Victoria and Albert Museum, London

• Lowestoft (porcelain factory), Tea caddy and cover, English, c. 1785, soft-paste porcelain painted in overglaze enamels, in red, pink, green, turquoise, yellow and brown with a Chinese woman drinking tea at a table, a boy, a bird on a tree and butterflies. On the cover, a Chinese boy. Red arch borders. 11.4 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

• Lowestoft (porcelain factory), Slop Basin, English, c. 1785, soft-paste porcelain painted in overglaze enamels, 7cm h., 14.6cm d., Victoria and Albert Museum, London

• Lowestoft (porcelain factory), Cream jug, English, c. 1769, soft-paste porcelain painted in overglaze enamels, 8.9cm h., 7cm d., Victoria and Albert Museum, London

• Lowestoft (porcelain factory), Cup, English, c. 1780, soft-paste porcelain painted in overglaze enamels and gilt, 6.4cm h., 5.7cm d., Victoria and Albert Museum, London

• During the early period wares decorated with Chinese-inspired scenes in underglaze blue were produced. This type of decoration continued to form the majority of production throughout the life of the factory but scenes were gradually simplified. Overglaze colours in enamel were used from about 1768, generally in white and blue or in a polychrome that utilizes a bright brick red.

• The quality of the porcelain is not the highest, especially after 1770, but even the less polished pieces have the appealling simplicity of folk art, and the high proportion of commemorative pieces, inscribed for people, places or occasions, add to their interest.