Mottahedeh Tobacco Leaf Bread & Butter Plate

Tobacco Leaf, one of the most prized of Chinese Export patterns, was developed circa 1780. The design shows the leaves of the flowering Nicotiana (Tobacco) plant upon which a small phoenix perches bearing a flowering twig in its beak. The joyous exuberance of the Tobacco Leaf pattern is undiminished by time. Tobacco Leaf is an authorized reproduction for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.