Screen with European Figures (obverse) (1736–95): Art, History and Details

Screen with European Figures (obverse) (1736–95) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This two-sided table screen is an enamel-painted copper plaque with European figures. European enamelware was introduced to China through missionary-artists at the Beijing court and foreign trade in Guangzhou.

Object facts

• Title: Screen with European Figures (obverse)
• Date: 1736–95
• Culture: China, Beijing palace workshops, Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Qianlong reign (1736-1795)
• Type: Enamel
• Technique: painted enamel, glass painting, and cast-iron stand
• Dimensions: without base: 65.8 x 32.4 cm (25 7/8 x 12 3/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Qing Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1964.243.1.a

A detail from the museum

The image is probably derived from European prints, which were popular in the Qing court.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.