Tray for a Tea Service 1768

This tray for a tea service was made at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, using porcelain, a refined and delicate material. The perfectly smooth surface has been decorated with extreme precision, first with an intricate pattern of blue and gold dots, and then with a landscape painting. The painting is neatly framed, and is rendered in a style reminiscent of Romantic landscape painting. Porcelain is made by firing clay at extremely high temperatures, and Sèvres was renowned for pushing the material to its absolute limit. This kind of luxury object would have taken many hours of highly skilled labor to produce, from the mixing of the clay to the delicate painting. Note how the handles are integrated into the form, suggesting that it was designed with the utmost care. These kinds of details elevate this tray beyond the merely functional, inviting us to consider the social rituals that accompanied tea drinking, and the labor necessary to produce even the simplest of household forms.