Not currently on display at the V&A

Painting

1770-1790 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This watercolour is from a set of 24 illustrations of the various stages of porcelain manufacture in China. It shows two potters turning bowls on a wheel, and a man carrying away finished products on a long narrow board. Although the setting has been romanticised, the scene does provide some idea as to how porcelain bowls were made. The same process is still being performed in China today.

Watercolours of this type are sometimes referred to as 'Chinese export paintings', since they were sold mainly to Europeans visiting China. The Honourable East India Company and other private traders from England travelled to China to buy silk, tea and porcelain. Watercolours depicting these industries were particularly popular with the British.

Chinese artists engaged in the export painting profession did not enjoy a high social status. They did not sign their works, while accounts in contemporary native history books rarely mention them. They would never have expected their work to have inspired a porcelain designer in a foreign land.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Watercolours on paper
Brief description
Painting, watercolours on paper, Guangzhou, China, 1770-1790
Physical description
Rectangular watercolour painting completed in muted tones, a seried of seated figures are depicted beneath a grey-blue structure, one of twenty-four depicting the various processes of the pottery industry
Dimensions
  • Mount height: 38.1cm
  • Width: 59cm
Dimensions checked: Measured; 07/11/2000 by PaperCons
Style
Gallery label
British Galleries: WATERCOLOUR AND VASE
This watercolour is from a popular set which illustrates the various stages of porcelain manufacture in China. The industrial nature of the process is romanticised by the trees and picturesque setting. Series like these were particularly popular in Britain. James Hadley, designer at the Worcester porcelain factory, was inspired by such watercolours. Compare the scenes in the watercolour and on the vase showing men working a wheel and a man carrying a board.(27/03/2003)
Object history
Purchased from Gordon M. Forsyth, accessioned in 1910. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project, one of twenty-four depicting the various processes of the pottery industry.
Summary
This watercolour is from a set of 24 illustrations of the various stages of porcelain manufacture in China. It shows two potters turning bowls on a wheel, and a man carrying away finished products on a long narrow board. Although the setting has been romanticised, the scene does provide some idea as to how porcelain bowls were made. The same process is still being performed in China today.

Watercolours of this type are sometimes referred to as 'Chinese export paintings', since they were sold mainly to Europeans visiting China. The Honourable East India Company and other private traders from England travelled to China to buy silk, tea and porcelain. Watercolours depicting these industries were particularly popular with the British.

Chinese artists engaged in the export painting profession did not enjoy a high social status. They did not sign their works, while accounts in contemporary native history books rarely mention them. They would never have expected their work to have inspired a porcelain designer in a foreign land.
Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
E.48-1910

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Record createdMarch 27, 2003
Record URL
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