Ewer from Burghley House, Lincolnshire, British, London mounts and Chinese porcelain; Chinese porcelain 1573– ca. 1585, British mounts ca. 1585. Hard-paste porcelain, gilded silver. Height: 34.6 cm, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 44.14.2.

In the sixteenth century, Chinese porcelain occasionally arrived in England, sometimes by way of the Levant, sometimes by sea around the Cape of Good Hope. As it was very rare and considered a special treasure, the most accomplished English silversmiths were often commissioned to make mounts for it. Pieces such as these were regarded as suitable for royal gifts or for the furnishing of princely houses. The ewer shown here is one of a group of Chinese porcelains of Wanli period (1573–1620), with silver-gilt mounts made in London by an unidentified silversmith about 1585. They were all acquired by the Museum from the estate of J. P. Morgan.

Mounted dish with figures in a landscape from Burghley House, Lincolnshire, British, London mounts and Chinese porcelain; porcelain 1573– ca. 1585, mounts ca. 1585. Hard-paste porcelain, gilded silver. Overall: 10.2 × 36.5 cm. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 44.14.1.

Chinese porcelains were a great rarity in sixteenth-century England, and they were often fitted with gilt-silver mounts that proclaimed their high status as luxury objects. Examples such as this were regarded as suitable for royal gifts or for the furnishing of aristocratic houses.

Two-handled bowl from Burghley House, Lincolnshire, British, London mounts and Chinese porcelain, Chinese porcelain 1573– ca. 1585, British mounts ca. 1585. Hard-paste porcelain, gilded silver. Overall (width with handles and diameter of rim, confirmed): 12.4 × 31.8 × 22.4 × 22.9 cm. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 44.14.3.

The sinuous painting on this fine blue-and-white bowl is in keeping with porcelain made for the domestic market in China and is unlike the coarser wares that later were made specifically for export. The gilt-silver mounts, which show the influence of Antwerp design, have finely stamped and cast motifs that refer to the ornament of classical architecture.

Two-handled bowl from Burghley House, Lincolnshire, British, London mounts and Chinese porcelain, Chinese porcelain 1573– ca. 1585, British mounts ca. 1585. Hard-paste porcelain, gilded silver. Overall: 15.9 × 24.1 cm; Width (with handles): 33 cm. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 44.14.5.

A magnificent house and its rich furnishings were an essential expression of power in the sixteenth century. This group of Chinese porcelain with finely-worked mounts is associated with the family of Elizabeth I’s adviser, William Cecil, Lord Burghley. The pieces may have been a bequest from the colonizer of Virginia, Sir Walter Raleigh, to Lord Burghley’s son Robert.

Bowl, British, London mounts and Chinese porcelain, ca. 1585. Hard-paste porcelain, silver gilt. Overall: 21.6 × 35.6 cm; Width (with handles): 46.4 cm. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 44.14.4.

Dutch and Flemish still life paintings of the early seventeenth century sometimes included pieces of Chinese porcelain with gilt-silver mounts, attesting to the popularity of these rare and costly objects.