CIRCA 1775

Elephants were of course a subject of much fascination to the Western world; the elephant-form tureens these stands supported were at the top end of export porcelain production. Other published examples (from the Ionides Collection, now at the Met in New York, illustrated by C Le Corbeiller, China Trade Porcelain, p. 113, and from the Espirito Santo Silva Collection, illustrated by J A Lloyd Hyde and R R Espirito Santo Silva, Chinese Porcelain for the European Market) show only one handler sitting quietly at the beast's side.