Europeans purchased some Chinese porcelain from the
Ottoman Empire, though these were not made to match European taste. Turkey's acquisitions of Chinese porcelain were sporadic and on a small scale before Sultan
Selim I's conquests in Persia, Syria, and Egypt from 1514 to 1517. These brought back large quantities of Chinese porcelain from the royal collections of
Tabriz,
Damascus, and Cairo. The
Topkapi Palace then had the largest collection of Chinese porcelain outside China. European visitors to
Istanbul in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are recorded as having purchased Chinese porcelain there. Some other pieces came via the Portuguese settlement of
Malacca;
King Manuel I had several acquired from
Vasco da Gama. The
Chamber of Art and Curiosities at
Ambras Castle contains the collection of
Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria, assembled during the mid-16th century. These early collections, typically of blue-and-white ware, were regarded as rare curios and art objects, and were often mounted in precious metals. In the 16th century,
Portuguese traders began importing late
Ming dynasty blue and white porcelains to Europe, resulting in the growth of the Kraak porcelain trade (named after the Portuguese ships called
carracks in which it was transported). In 1602 and 1604, two Portuguese carracks, the
San Yago and
Santa Catarina, were captured by the
Dutch and their cargos, which included thousands of items of porcelain, were sold off at an auction, igniting a European interest for porcelain. Buyers included the Kings of England and France. After this, a number of European nations established companies trading with the countries of
East Asia, the most significant for the porcelain being the
Dutch East India Company or VOC. Between 1602 and 1682 the company carried between 30 and 35 million pieces of Chinese and
Japanese export porcelain. The
English East India Company also imported around 30 million pieces, the
French East India Company 12 million, the
Portuguese East India Company 10 million and the
Swedish East India Company some 20 million pieces between 1766 and 1786. The trade continued until the mid-17th century when the Ming dynasty fell in 1644, and civil war disrupted porcelain production. European traders then turned to
Japanese export porcelain instead, though much of that was still traded through Chinese ports. However, the Chinese had reasserted their dominance by the 1740s. As valuable and highly prized possessions, pieces of Chinese export porcelain appeared in many 17th century
Dutch paintings. A still life by
Jan Jansz. Treck includes two Kraak-style bowls, probably late Ming, one in the foreground of a type the Dutch called
klapmuts. The blue pigment used by the artist faded badly since the picture was painted. Under the
Kangxi Emperor's reign (1662–1722) the Chinese porcelain industry, now largely
concentrated at Jingdezhen was reorganised and the export trade soon flourished again. Chinese export porcelain from the late 17th century included blue-and-white and
famille verte wares (and occasionally
famille noire and
famille jaune). Wares included garnitures of vases, dishes, teawares, ewers, and other useful wares along with figurines, animals and birds. Blanc de Chine porcelains and
Yixing stonewares arriving in Europe and gave inspiration to many European potters. The massive increase in imports allowed purchasers to amass large collections, which were often displayed in dedicated rooms or purpose-built structures. The
Trianon de Porcelaine built between 1670 and 1672 was a Baroque pavilion constructed to display
Louis XIV's collection of blue-and-white porcelain, set against French blue-and-white
faience tiles both on the interior and exterior of the building. It was demolished in 1687. In the later 18th century, as European porcelain factories became established, there was more competition, and the quality of export wares declined, with many using fussy and over-elaborate shapes and decoration. So-called Canton porcelain was made as "blanks" at
Jingdezhen, then carried to Canton (Guangzhou) where it was painted in styles designed for Western markets at the
Thirteen Factories, often including armorial porcelain for dining wares, with the design of the
coat of arms of the buyer sent out from Europe and copied. == Wares and figurines ==