Lusterware | Fragonard Tea Trio set | Asian Exportware

An incredibly attractive, luxuriously sentimental and indulgent Japanese lusterware Tea Trio Set with scalloped edges, gold floral details and sections of red glaze on pearlized white china. It features a typical Fragonard inspired love story scene like so many of the lusterware cups.

Jean Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) was a French painter of the Roccoco style who was popular in the latter half of the 18th Century, around the time of Marie Antoinette, Louis XV and Louis XVI. He is credited with inspiring traditional romanticised courting couple scenes on porcelain.This particular set came from a deceased estate in Gothenburg and belonged to the seller's grandfather who was a seaman in the 1930s. We believe this was actually bought on one of his voyages to Japan, although it is marked import and like much of what was produced in Japan was European in style and not intended for the domestic market.

A bit about Lusterware:Like a magpie, I'm in love with shiny stuff. And when I came across lusterware, I acquired rather a lot of it in a short space of time! I. It's interesting because lusterware - the technique - was born in Persia (or Mesopotamia as they called it then). Persian lusterware is a more flamboyant affair than its gilded pastel European counterpart, but this Fragonard set is one of the few I've seen which nods to the red & gold of its predecessors. And it's those flashes of colour which prevent this particular romantic fragonard scene from tumbling down the all too familiar chocolate box rabbit hole...