Free Trade Jesuit

Rose Medallion is one of the patterns in a group known as the “famille rose,” or “pink family” of Chinese wares exported to the West. It’s a French term, coined by the Jesuit priests who were commissioned by the Vatican in the late 1700s to catalogue items coming out of China. Led by a Father Jacquemart, they decided to group ceramic wares in families according to the dominant color of their decoration. In the pink family the most popular pattern became Rose Medallion, a design centering around a circle with a flower inside. That flower is not a rose, but a peony. Remember the word “rose” is not the flower, but the French word for pink.
Link to the full article (here)