Plate 12: Indian Island, from "A New Book of Chinese Designs"
Etched and published by Matthias Darly British
Artist and publisher George Edwards British
Not on view
Twelfth plate of 'A New Book of Chinese Designs', consisting of a title page, index, and 120 plates, etched and published in 1754 by the British caricaturist, printseller and ornamental engraver Matthew Darly, in collaboration with George Edwards. The book consists of a variety of ornamental and costume designs of Chinese inspiration, some of them copies of the original works (including the title).
This plate represents an oval view of the landscape of an Indian Island, with an elevated house on the venter and a small boat with people navigating the waters surrounding it, and with mountains on the background. In the foreground, on the bottom, are leaves of bushes, as if the viewer was seeing the scene from an exotic land himself.
