Famille rose Punch Bowl

Chinese enamellers in the southern port city of Guangzhou were provided with Western prints and drawings depicting a plethora of subjects. These artisans then transferred the images onto blank porcelain wares produced farther inland, at Jingdezhen. With inner and outer surfaces decorated in famille rose enamels, this punch bowl is decorated after an engraved coloured mezzotint by Thomas Burford (about 1710-about 1770) dating from 1753, itself taken from a work by the English equestrian painter James Seymour (1702-1752). In England, hunting scenes were generally depicted on the large punch bowls from which alcoholic beverages were served before and after a hunt meet.