Page 156 - A Re-examination of Late Qing Dynasty Porcelain, 1850-1920 THESIS

was idealized with lavish elements conveying a sense of royalty. The painting showcases

a distinct garniture set of blue-and-white porcelain above the doorway, which Mary II

must have procured. The painting provides evidence that the styles of porcelain that

Mary II collected were still utilized far beyond her reign and had become a standard by

which British royals understood Chinese porcelain.

Along with the blue-and-white porcelain found at Hampton Court, Mary II and

William III also collected porcelain for Kensington Palace, a home they purchased and

began remodeling in 1689. Numerous visitors to Kensington Palace recorded their

perspectives on Mary’s extensive collection of blue- and-white porcelain. Writer Daniel

Defoe (c.1660-1731) commented,

and here also a vast stock of fine china ware, the like whereof was not then to be
seen in England; the long gallery … was fill’d with this china, and every other
place, where it could be plac’d with advantage. 195

Mary II’s collection epitomizes an early British desire to collect Chinese porcelain in

large quantities, as indicated by Defoe’s description of the space. Mary II continued to

collect Chinese porcelain until her death at the age of 32. While she collected other

Asian wares, including Persian rugs and Japanese ceramics, it was her Chinese porcelain

collection that formed the core of the Asian holdings of the Royal Collection Trust.

Collections amassed by collectors like Mary II and Augustus the Strong marked what this

study considered the beginning of Western porcelain-collecting traditions. The way in

which these objects were displayed within royal residencies created a sense of opulence

and abundance within the space. This concept of display for a collection has continued in

195 Daniel Defoe, A Tour Through the While Island of Great Britain, ed. P.N. Furbank, W.R.
Owens, and A.J. Coulson (London: Yale University Press, 1991), 72. Defoe’s work was first
published in three volumes between 1724-1726.

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