Terms and conditions of use
Jug
(c. 1770)
- Medium
- porcelain (soft-paste)
- Measurements
- 8.1 × 7.5 × 6.0 cm
- Accession Number
- 2024.417
- Department
- International Decorative Arts
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Patricia Begg OAM Bequest, 2024
© Public Domain - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
The images of Asia and Asian peoples created by European artists and craftsmen in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are complex. Imported Asian commodities such as porcelains, lacquered works, textiles and wallpapers often bore painted or printed scenes that were taken to represent everyday life in Asian lands, but these often reflected traditional Asian iconographic conventions or had been created specifically for the European market. These sources formed the basis upon which European artists created depictions of Asian peoples and places, at first copying the models with some accuracy, but over time modifying the images with increasing artistic license. The resulting fanciful images, however, continued to be accepted in Europe as reliable depictions of Asian realities.