Quianlong period bowl, ca. 1750, East India Company. Glazed porcelain. With stamp on the base. Wear from use and the passage of time. It has two hairs and a chipped lip. Measurements: 11 x 25,5 cm. Glazed ceramic bowl decorated with oriental motifs in the form of elegant geishas wrapped in kimonos, made in the Qianlong period for the export market to Europe. Objects of Chinese origin, such as porcelain, have been known in the West since ancient times. As some of the Pradro Museum's catalogues point out, "Chinese manufacturers soon realised that Europeans were not connoisseurs of porcelain and produced export porcelain, vulgar, even flawed, but which in the eyes of Westerners are true works of art. Once the trade was regularly organised, the India Companies supplied Chinese artists with European models, both for forms and decoration. Throughout the 18th century, the blue-and-white series persisted, but of inferior quality, which was then called Nanjing porcelain, and especially the famille rose. The Qianlong Emperor, a member of the Qing dynasty, ruled China between 1736 and 1795, and is remembered to this day as one of the most cultured emperors and one of the most important in terms of art collecting. His long reign was a particularly interesting moment in Chinese history. At that time, the country was the richest and most populous nation in the world. Qianlong was able to preserve and foster his own Manchu warrior and hunter traditions, and combine them with the adoption of Confucian principles of political and cultural leadership, thus achieving an effective and stable government. Indeed, it was his ability to adopt Chinese customs, while still honouring his Manchu tradition, that made him one of the most successful emperors of the Qing dynasty. Qianlong studied Chinese painting, and especially enjoyed the art of calligraphy, highly regarded in this culture, indeed conceived as the highest of the arts.