Plate with tiger and bamboo 1725 - 1735

This plate with tiger and bamboo was made by the Meissen Manufactory, a German company, sometime after 1710. The tiger motif reflects the influence of Asian art and the global trade routes that shaped early 18th-century European aesthetics. But consider the symbolic weight of the tiger itself. In many Asian cultures, the tiger represents power, courage, and protection, yet here, it's rendered as a decorative motif, stripped of its cultural context and reduced to an aesthetic element for European consumption. The bamboo, another common motif in Asian art, carries its own layered meanings. As a symbol of resilience and flexibility. This plate, while beautiful, becomes a site where cultural appropriation and colonial power dynamics intersect. It invites us to reflect on the complex relationship between East and West, and the ways in which cultural symbols can be both celebrated and exploited.