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Punch Bowl

A work made of porcelain.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of porcelain.

Date:

c. 1789

Artist:

China, Jiaqing reign
Chinese, made for the American market

About this artwork

Chinese officials limited all international trading to the city of Canton, and segregated the fan kwae (foreign devils) into a 15-acre area outside of the city wall. Decorated in grisaille, or monochrome, the exterior of this punch bowl shows the 13 trade buildings, known as hongs (foreign factories), that lined this restricted area. Each building was associated with a particular country, and they doubled as counting houses and living quarters, where agents resided during the fall trading season. In this view of the hongs, the American factory lies between those of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, suggesting that this was an early rendering, made before the United States permanently established its factory next to Sweden’s.

Status

On View, Gallery 166

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Chinese export porcelain

Title

Punch Bowl

Place

China (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

c. 1789

Medium

Porcelain

Dimensions

15 × 36.3 × 25.8 cm (5 15/16 × 14 5/16 × 10 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by the Antiquarian Society

Reference Number

1950.3

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/117475/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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