Rose Family Tea Set, India Company. China, 18th century

Rose Family Tea Set, India Company. China, 18th century.
Enamelled porcelain.
Comprising a teapot and five cups and saucers.
The teapot and one of the cups have marks of use. The teapot and one of the cups have a puncture on their lips.
Measurements: 12 x 22 x 12 cm (teapot).
This tea set is made of Chinese porcelain from the India Company for the European market. The decoration, of a floral type, is part of the Rose Family style, based on the introduction of new glazes, the most famous of which is pink, which gave the style its name. Other new colours were also added, such as opaque yellow, white and the now independent black (until then, to fix the black glaze, it was necessary to cover it 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.