Kop met een veelkleurig landschap in een medaillon uitgespaard in een geometrisch patroon c. 1759 - 1771

This is a porcelain cup, decorated with a colorful landscape, made by the Weesper porseleinfabriek. The geometric pattern and delicate landscape reflect the fashion for chinoiserie and pastoral scenes that swept through Europe in the 18th century, but it also speaks to the complex politics of trade, colonialism, and class. Such items were luxury goods, their consumption enabled by global trade networks, often built on exploitation and the labor of enslaved people. Think about the hands that harvested the tea or coffee that might have been sipped from this cup and who would have been able to afford it. A simple cup such as this carries a weight of history. It invites us to consider the narratives of power, privilege, and taste that shape our world, then and now.