**A Chinese Export Underglaze Blue and Famille Rose ‘Tobacco Leaf’ Tureen and Cover**
18th Century, circa 1775
Length: 40 cm (15.75 in), Height: 23 cm (9.06 in)
The celebrated ‘Tobacco Leaf’ pattern is one of the most iconic designs of Chinese export porcelain, created exclusively for European and American markets from c.1765 onwards and remained fashionable for nearly a century, a landmark type of Sino-Western trade porcelain. This tureen is the principal serving piece of a grand Western dinner service. Modelled in an elegant oblong form, fitted with two leaf-shaped underglaze-blue handles and a naturalistic pinecone finial on the domed cover, the rim is moulded with scalloped edge, raised on a low wide foot, characteristic of Jingdezhen export porcelain of the Qianlong reign.
It is decorated using a complex multi-firing technique: underglaze cobalt blue outlines the large tobacco leaves, enriched with overglaze famille-rose enamels in soft yellow, sky blue, crimson, pink and green. Interspersed chrysanthemums, peonies, tulips and sprigs of small blossoms create the dynamic, asymmetrical Rococo composition beloved by 18th-century European patrons.
Comparable tureens have repeatedly appeared at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. A closely related Qianlong tobacco-leaf tureen with stand was sold by Sotheby’s in 2021. In 2026, Sotheby’s offered the large David H. Murdock tobacco-leaf dinner service, estimated USD 80,000–120,000. Christie’s also auctioned suites of the related “Pseudo Tobacco Leaf” pattern tureens. Complete lidded tureens with original handles are scarcer than plates and small sauce vessels and highly prized by collectors.
Important museum parallels include an almost contemporary tobacco-leaf tureen preserved in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. The Guangdong Museum holds Qianlong tobacco-leaf examples, while the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston also preserve related services.
The pattern originated from European demand for imagery of the New World tobacco plant, merging Chinese porcelain craftsmanship with transatlantic botanical fashion, a defining symbol of the global 18th-century maritime trade. With well-preserved enamels and intact form, this tureen stands as a fine, historically significant relic of the Canton trade.
**Provenance reference: Sotheby’s New York, Important Americana, 22 January 2016, Lot 143, an example of the same model sold for USD 30,000.**Provenance: Private collection, Portugal
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