Page 146 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

have been greatly appreciated not only by members of the royal House of Avis-Beja and
its successor, the House of Austria (Habsburg), but also by the high-ranking nobility
and clergy. Members of the royal court of Lisbon supplied their relatives residing at
other European courts, as well as the clergy and courtiers, with porcelain, silk and
other Asian exotic goods. They also gave porcelain as diplomatic gifts. By the mid-
Right sixteenth century porcelain had become an integral part of the royalty’s courtly life.
Fig. 3.1.1.28a Ceiling covered with
embrechados of the House of Water at the Fig. 3.1.1.29 Blue-and-white jars given to Porcelain was not only displayed in their living quarters but it was customary to use it
Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira, Santo Queen Christina of Sweden (r. 1632–1654) as tableware. The high-ranking nobility also enjoyed the novelty of displaying porcelain
Domingo of Benfica (detail) Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province
© Jorge Welsh, London-Lisbon Ming dynasty, Chongzhen reign (1628–1644) and eating from it in formal occasions, to the extent that by the early 1560s it is said
Height: 72cm to have been replacing silver tableware. Tangible evidence of the high appreciation of
Left Östasiatiska Museet, Stockholm porcelain among the nobility in the seventeenth century is provided by the late Ming
Fig. 3.1.1.28b Detail of Fig. 3.1.1.28a (inv. nos. CXV–1586 and CXV–1587)

144 Trade in Chinese Porcelain 145