Cup (part of a service) 18th century

This small porcelain cup, part of a larger service, was made by the Meissen Manufactory in Germany. At the time this cup was made, tea was becoming a fashionable drink and an important ritual across Europe. The monochromatic scene around the cup's exterior depicts a colonial landscape with enslaved bodies in the foreground and elegantly dressed figures in the background. What does it mean to leisurely sip tea from a cup illustrating such a fraught scene? This image encapsulates the relationship between Europe and its colonies, and how commodities became entangled with exploitation. The cup presents a dichotomy, with the clean, white porcelain contrasting the dark, unsettling scene it portrays. What narratives are being told, and whose stories are erased in these seemingly innocuous objects of daily life?