figure
- Museum number
- 1980,0728.666
- Description
-
'Dehua' sculpture of a European family. This sculpted group shows a European gentleman wearing a tricorne hat, buttoned frock coat and knee breeches and a lady in a tall headdress and long dress. They are seated beside a Chinese chair on which a bowl of bread is placed, holding small cups, and are flanked by a similarly dressed boy and girl with a pet dog, pet monkey and a flower pot in front of them.
- Production date
- 1700-1750 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 16.50 centimetres
-
Weight: 884 grammes
-
Width: 15.50 centimetres
-
Depth: 7.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:
Various attempts have been made to identify the figures, which may have been modelled after an engraving, but were probably intended simply as an archetypal representation of a foreign family. Such models of 'Dutch families' were already listed in cargo sale lists of the English East India Company dating from 1701 (Godden, 1979, pp.266, 270). Such figural groups are not uncommon but, being hand-finished, they vary in detail. Similar pieces are in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Beurdeley and Raindre, 1987, pl.334); in the Mottahedeh collection (Howard and Ayers, 1978, vol. I, pl.55); and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (no. C.108-1963). They were sometimes cold-painted in the West (see Godden, 1979, pl.193).
- Location
- On display (G33/dc39b/s1)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1994, Taiwan, National Museum of History, Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics
1995 27 Jan-26 Mar, London, BM, G91, East Meets West: Chinese Trade Ceramics in the British Museum
2011-2012 Sept-Feb, London, BM, G35, Grayson Perry: the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman
- Acquisition date
- 1980
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1980,0728.666