The Alcora manufactory was founded in 1727 by the 9th Count of Aranda on land he owned in what is now the province of Castellón. The aim was to create a luxury earthenware and porcelain factory that would compete with foreign manufactories. Royal privileges, including tax exemption on the export of pieces and the free entry of materials from abroad, allowed this manufactory to operate until the middle of the 19th century despite the fact that it barely made any profits.

Throughout its existence, the factory became a model of organisation and a point of reference in terms of aesthetics thanks to the recruitment of foreign specialists, artists and “secretists” who claimed to know the secret of porcelain manufacture. In addition, the creation of an apprentice academy enabled the manufactory to continue to provide top quality production.

From its foundation and throughout its first period (1727-1749), it was run by foreign artists who were responsible for setting the standard for the different ornamental styles. Édouard Roux, director of the factory between 1728 and 1735, introduced decorative motifs and forms from the manufactories of southern France.

One of the artists who stood out for his use of polychromy and a new ornamental repertoire in the Rococo style was Joseph Olérys (1697-1749). This painter, a native of Marseilles who trained in Moustiers, was hired by the 9th Count of Aranda in 1727 when the latter founded the Alcora manufactory, where the artist was employed for ten years. In 1740, Olérys returned to Moustiers and teamed up with his brother-in-law Jean-Baptiste Laugier to set up his own factory there. During his stay in Spain he set aside the blue palette in favour of polychromy and replaced religious themes with mythological ones. He was responsible for the creation of several decorative styles, such as the chinoiseries series, which reveals the 18th century’s great interest in everything related to the Chinese Empire. These compositions depict an imaginary world inhabited by grotesque characters (half-human, half-animal) who are often pictured playing musical instruments or dancing, mixed with figures of Chinese, shepherds, chimerical animals and birds, all arranged in perfect balance with the bouquets of potato flowers or with the branches of chrysanthemums and the insects that surround them.

This oval dish with a lobed rim is decorated in blue chiaroscuro. In the central area a lady with a parasol and two birds are surrounded by the typical motifs of the series: flowering branches and insects. The upper part of the brim features a quartered Spanish coat of arms, crowned and flanked by military trophies, which does not adhere to blazon science and is decorative rather than strictly heraldic.