Jar with Floral Scrolls and Wrapped-Cloth Design

Unknown artist

Invented in Limoges, France, during the fifteenth century, the technique of painting enamels onto metal was brought by the Jesuits to China in the early eighteenth century. Jars and other vessels made in this technique are sometimes known as "foreign porcelains" in China. Painted enamels for court use were made in one of the specialized workshops in the Forbidden City, and those for domestic use and export were produced in private workshops in Canton. Consequently, in the West such painted enamels are commonly called "Canton" enamels.