A pair of Chinese Export Porcelain “Tobacco Leaf” plates. Late 18th/early 19th century
Decorated in underglaze blue, polychrome enamels, and gold, with a pair of pheasants amongst leaves and flower blossoms beneath two squirrels on the branches of vine, three prunus sprays on the reverse, gold edge on the lobed rim.
- Country:
- China
- Period :
- Late 18th/Early 19th century
- Material:
- Porcelain
- Dimension:
- 22.5 cm
- Reference :
- B662
- Status:
- sold
Notice
Popularly known as the “Tobacco Leaf” pattern, the decoration on this plate exhibits some on the design work known on eighteenth-century export ware. As Howard and Ayers note, the distinctive leaves might not be those of the tobacco leaves plant. They possibly derive instead from the “thick, tropical, variegated-leaf- foliage of Southern Asia and the Pacific”, while the blossoms almost certainly are hibiscus and passion flowers.