In 1708 a method of producing porcelain was discovered in Germany and, under noble patronage, a porcelain factory was established at Meissen near Dresden. The Meissen factory specialised in producing high quality tableware. In particular, they made pieces associated with the ‘exotic’ new food and drink stuffs entering Europe from Asia, the Americas and West Indies, which increasingly graced the tables of fashionable and wealthy homes.
This plate was made towards the end of the period (1774-1814) when the Italian born Camillo Marcolini was director of the Meissen factory and attempting to restore its fortunes, which had declined during and after the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). The decoration is in the Egyptian classical style, with a canopic (burial) vase in the centre, against a 'lapis-lazuli' ground copied from Sèvres porcelain, and classical amphorae and ewers against the solid blue ground of the border, reminiscent of Roman wall-painting. In the late-18th and early-19th centuries increased travel and exploration during the Napoleonic Wars and archaeological discoveries, at sites such as Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy, led to a revival of interest in ancient and classical decoration.