RELATED OBJECTS
Gift exchange, tribute, the spread of religion, and overland as well as maritime trade were major transmitters of motifs, designs, and techniques between China and the Roman Empire, Iran, and India. Primary goods, such as medicinal herbs, spices, animals (especially horses), animal products, ores, and metals traveled east to China, while silk products, ceramics, metal wares, paper, printed texts, and mint coins traveled west.
Certain objects intended for export reflect an understanding of the foreign market and its clients' individual tastes, such as this Chinese porcelain dish whose Qajar dynasty insignia and Persian inscription naming one of the Qajar rulers suggest it was made for the Iranian royal court.
