Pair of Quianlong plates, XVIII century

Pair of Quianlong plates with Rose Family decoration in Louis XV taste, East India Company, 18th century.
Enamelled porcelain.
One of the plates has a hair and a nick, while the other has slight flaws.
Measurements: 23 cm (diameter).
This pair of dishes was manufactured in Indian Company china for the European market. The decoration, of a floral type, is in the Rose Family style, although very much in the European Louis XV style. The bottom of the dish is decorated with a large floral motif, while the rim is decorated with garlands. The Rose Family style is based on the introduction of new enamels, the most famous of which is pink, after which the style is named. Other new colours were also added, such as opaque yellow, white and the now independent black (until then, in order to fix the black glaze, it had to be covered with a glaze of another colour, usually translucent green). Technically, the most important is opaque white, as it could be mixed with other glazes to achieve a wide range of pastel shades, as well as allowing a smooth tonal gradation that made it possible to successfully imitate Western painting. What defines the Rose Family, therefore, is not the predominance of this colour, but this new polychrome. The new style led to the abandonment of the previously predominant Green Family, characterised by the abundance of this colour and the use of more watery glazes.