Dessert plate 1765 - 1775

This dessert plate was made by the Fürstenberg Porcelain Manufactory, founded in Germany in 1747, and is made of delicate porcelain. Porcelain like this is made from a specific clay called kaolin, mixed with other materials and fired at incredibly high temperatures. This gives it its characteristic translucence, smoothness, and strength. The blue decoration you see, carefully hand-painted, shows a bird in flight amongst flowering branches, with a pierced rim, and all of these elements would have required remarkable skill from the maker. Such tableware speaks volumes about 18th-century European society. Porcelain was highly prized as a luxury item, and owning pieces like this signalled wealth and status. The act of dining itself became a form of display. Every piece of porcelain embodies the intense labor needed to mine and process the raw materials, alongside the expertise required to form, fire, and decorate the final product. Looking at an object like this, we are reminded that the history of art is also a history of production, consumption, and social aspiration.