Sydney punchbowls porcelain was decorated with a combination of Chinese patterns and Western motifs selected by its commissioner. The Chinese manufacturers sent porcelain samples of decorations to their prospective clients in Europe and the United States and their clients provided the porcelain painters in China with paintings, drawings or sketches for their orders. These dinner wares are categorized into "familles" (French for "families") mainly by the colors they are painted in such as famille verte, noire, jaune and rose. These sets of tableware included all the dishes necessary to set a grand table for a gala dinner. A 1766 order form from
Chinese ceramics "Yangcai" (洋彩), meaning 'foreign colours') was introduced during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1654–1722), possibly around 1720. It used mainly pink or purple and remained popular throughout the 18th and the 19th centuries, also being widely adopted by European factories. Famille rose enamel ware allows a greater range of colour and tone than was previously possible, enabling the depiction of more complex images, including flowers, figures and insects. Pottery classified as stoneware in the West is usually regarded as porcelain in Chinese terms, where a stoneware group is not recognised, and so the definition of porcelain is rather different,