Large pair of dishes in Alcora (Spanish) faience between 1735 and 1760

Royal Ceramic Factory of Alcora
Pair of plates with Chinese Figures
Alcora, Castellón, (Spain).1735–60
Tin-glazed earthenware.


These pair of plates embodies the delight with which artists at the Royal Ceramic Factory of Alcora contributed to the rise of Chinoiserie in the 18th century. The factory officially opened its doors in 1727, and by the first decade of operation began to decorate a wide variety of forms in a style the factory called china (Chinese, see Sánchez Adell 1973, pp. 93–94). No two works from the Chinese series are identical in composition, although some figures and groups of figures were repeated on multiple objects with the use of stencils. Asian figures, exotic birds, pagodas, grotesques, and other motifs were drawn from a variety of European sources that responded to the fascination in Europe for all things Asian.

In the center of both plates thre are couple elegantly dressed in the fashion of this period..