Vase with European women and children

second half 18th century

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 221

Profusely ornate, this vase reflects Chinese interests in European imagery and pictorial techniques during the eighteenth century. Chinese artists used a new palette of opaque enamels to create shading that could replicate Western painting styles. The stippling on the sky and ground, as well as the horizontal lines on the surface of the body of water, may indicate that a European copperplate etching served as the pictorial source for the vignette.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

清乾隆銅胎畫琺瑯西洋仕女嬰戯圖瓶
Title: Vase with European women and children
Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong mark and period (1736–95)
Date: second half 18th century
Culture: China
Medium: Painted enamel on copper alloy, glass beads
Dimensions: H. 18 3/4 in. (47.6 cm); W. 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm); D. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm)
Classification: Enamels
Credit Line: Bequest of Mary Clark Thompson, 1923
Object Number: 24.80.316
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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