ca. 1830 · Watercolour on paper
Packing Porcelain in Canton for Shipment to the West
Unidentified Chinese artist
Why it matters
Workers prepare porcelain for a long export voyage through a specialised sequence of sorting, wrapping, crating, and carrying. The scene gives human and logistical form to the trade that the language of a “closed empire” pushes out of view.
- Publication
- Chinese export watercolour
- Holding institution
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Shelfmark
- 55.139.2
Unidentified Chinese artist. Packing Porcelain in Canton for Shipment to the West, ca. 1830. Watercolour on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 55.139.2.
