Asian Art

Double Peacock Dinner Service

The Double Peacock Service is a pattern in Chinese export porcelain, using fine quality hard-paste porcelain for dinner and other services, in the European taste. Produced on order and perhaps for stock in China in the 18th century, it was brought to Europe and sold by the European trading companies. Technically, it is very characteristic of the Chinese export porcelain dinner services made in China to be used in Europe. Estimates say that about twenty thousand pieces of the "Peacock Service" (also known as "Double Peacock Service" or "Two Peacocks Service") were produced between 1750 and 1795, and today, perhaps 5,000 pieces survive, distributed throughout the world. This pattern is specially collected in Brazil, Portugal and England, and can be found in many museums. With octagonal, rococo design or, in its latest batches, rounded shapes, the plate is made of white porcelain, decorated with overglaze enamels with the customary colours of the so-called "Famille Rose" style. The border contains four branches forming a cross and the edge in rouge de fer, always alternated with eye-catching stylizations of blue branches. In the center, two peacocks placed over rocks and a branch with big peonies, separated from the border of the piece by a fleur-de-lis frieze. Besides plates of several sizes, many types of tureens, pots, gravy boats, platters with different shapes, butter tubs, honey and salt dishes, wine-coolers and bowls were made. The name "Peacock Service" is used because this china has as decoration two of these animals on rocks, as its main element. The expert Almeida Santos wrote in his Manual do Colecionador Brasileiro (Guide for the Brazilian Collector): "The services for imperial use, in Brazil, include the "Roosters", the "Shepherds", and the "Peacocks". The Double Peacock Service is the finest one of the "Famille Rose" and was made on demand for Europe, without any doubt. The "Peacocks" are very well designed. By the way, the chinaware is, let us say, a mix of the "Famille Verte" and the "Famille Rose".

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See also

• ▸Fenghuang
• ▸1586
• ▸Hariti

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.