Chinese dates
Painting
1822-1840 (made)
1822-1840 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This painting of Chinese dates is drawn on western paper, specially imported into China for its quality. Exotic flora and fauna were of great interest to British botanists in the 18th and 19th centuries, and such enthusiasm gradually filtered down to the general public. Travellers often returned to Britain with foreign plants and, more commonly, paintings depicting numerous species of tropical flowers and fruits.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Chinese dates (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour and ink on European paper |
| Brief description | Painting, 'Chinese Dtaes', watercolour and ink on paper, Guangzhou, China, 1822-1840 |
| Physical description | Leaves having 5-9 alternate, oval, shiny, resin-scented leaflets, each about 2 inches long. In spring, clusters of small, white, 4 or 5-parted flowers borne at the ends of branchlets. Fruit matures in July as a round berry, hairy, yellowish brown, with sweet white pulp inside enclosing several jade-green seeds. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | '1821' (watermark; paper) |
| Object history | Acquisition method and source not identified in the Asia Department registers, accessioned in 1886. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | This painting of Chinese dates is drawn on western paper, specially imported into China for its quality. Exotic flora and fauna were of great interest to British botanists in the 18th and 19th centuries, and such enthusiasm gradually filtered down to the general public. Travellers often returned to Britain with foreign plants and, more commonly, paintings depicting numerous species of tropical flowers and fruits. |
| Bibliographic reference | Souvenir from Canton : Chinese export paintings from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Shanghai, 2003
257 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | D.324-1886 |
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| Record created | October 17, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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