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.
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 |
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| Style | |
| Gallery label |
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| 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 |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.48-1910 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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