On May 27, 1718, eight years after the first European porcelain factory was founded at Meissen, a minor Viennese court official named Claude Innocent Du Paquier was granted a 25-year imperial patent for the exclusive right to make hard-paste porcelain in the Austrian territories. Du Paquier’s output consisted chiefly of table and other wares painted with imagination and an idiosyncrasy that combined great sophistication and charming naiveté. This tureen attests to the importance of exotic decoration ranging from chinoiseries to stylized flowers and birds inspired by Chinese and Japanese porcelain.