In colonial Virginia, the baptism of a child was a celebratory rite of passage that mingled elements of both the sacred and secular. The gentry class frequently preferred to hold these events at home, hosting dining and dancing following the ceremony. This Chinese export porcelain bowl has a history of use as a christening bowl in the Dandridge family, and may have been used to baptize Martha Dandridge a short while after her birth on June 2, 1731. Its decoration, distinguished by the dominant greens of the "famille verte" palette, is characteristic of the luxury wares available in the colonies in the early eighteenth century.