While the Du Paquier manufactory often took inspiration from Meissen and East Asia, it also developed its own highly individual decorative styles, forms, and techniques. A hallmark of the manufactory is its playful handles, knobs, and finials in the shape of animals — panthers, salamanders, fish — or small figurines. One of the most charming inventions is a barrel-shaped tankard with a handle in the shape of a cooper, a maker of barrels. The manufactory also mastered the challenging technique of piercing porcelain, seen on a cassolette and on a lemon basket. The design, which imitates pierced silver baskets, is Chinese in origin, as is the technique.
Perhaps the most characteristic element of Du Paquier porcelain is its brilliant painted decoration in a palette dominated by rich purple and pink, iron-red, violet, blue, yellow, brown, black, and several shades of green. Also popular was monochromatic painting, especially in Schwarzlot (monochrome black), which reflected the Viennese taste for austere grandeur.
The manufactory further distinguished itself with paintings of naturalistic flowers in exuberant colors as, for example, on the olio bowl, the pair of chocolate beakers, the slop bowl, and the tankard. Roses, peonies, ranunculi, and hollyhocks replaced the stylized flora of Asian prototypes, showing the artistic confidence of painters who created directly from nature. Lush flowers were often combined with fruits and small creatures, an approach that reflected the contemporary fascination with science and botany.
The signature of Du Paquier porcelain, however, was probably the richly ornamental patterns that resemble mosaics, known as Laub- und Bandelwerk. This decorative motif — consisting of symmetrically organized scrolling and angled strapwork, trelliswork panels, palmettes, and stylized foliage — offered infinite possibilities when used as a border, frame, or principal theme, as seen on the tea set and the table bell and stand.
