For centuries, porcelain was a coveted luxury made only at Jingdezhen in the heart of China. Thus the English word ‘china’ came to mean not just the country but also this magically fine, hard, and luminous material we now call Chinese export porcelain.

During the great China Trade era (circa 1630 to 1830), ships laden with porcelain sailed from China to Europe and later America. The very best of their cargoes was porcelain specially ordered for the Western elite, and this sale will offer many such examples - with the coats-of-arms of European notables, or enameled after Western paintings, or fashioned in European silver shapes - as well as classic famille verte, famille rose and blue and white from the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong periods.

Today, this Chinese export porcelain is highly collectible, valued both for its aesthetic quality and for the stories it tells of East West interactions long ago.