Cup and saucer 18th century

This cup and saucer, made of soft-paste porcelain, comes from Tournai, a Belgian city with a rich history of ceramics production. Porcelain is essentially petrified clay, but this is soft-paste porcelain, meaning it lacks the bone ash that gives bone china its strength. The cup and saucer exemplify the intricate, hand-decorated style popular in the 18th century, with transfer printed decorations. Note the pastoral scenes, so typical of the period. What's interesting is to think about how these decorations were achieved. First, artisans had to prepare the porcelain, then carefully fire it, after which surface decoration could begin, followed by another firing. The labor involved in making a set like this was considerable; many hands were involved, from the potter to the painter. This reveals porcelain production as a complex ecosystem of skills and techniques that required extensive collaboration and a system of production where the division of labor was deeply rooted.