A Chinese Triumph Arch, esteem'd the most Elegant at Canton in China

Artist John Couse (English, active ca. 1750)

Artist After Catharina Sperling Heckel (English, 1699 - 1741)

Dateca. 1775

MediumHand-colored etching

DimensionsPlate: 6 13/16 × 10 7/8 inches (17.32 × 27.61 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Laurence Sickman

Object numberF88-48/2

On View

Not on view

Collections

Prints

Terms

Exhibition History

Occidental Graphics from the Collection of Laurence Sickman, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 13- October 18, 1992, no. 11.

Decorative Designs, Decorative Landscapes and Still Life, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 29-November 8, 2009, no cat., as A Chinese Triumph Arch, esteem'd the most Elegant at Canton in China.

Decorative Designs, Decorative Landscapes and Still Life, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 15-July 16, 2017, no cat., as A Chinese Triumph Arch, esteem'd the most Elegant at Canton in China.

Gallery Label

Curiosity about China in the 18th century rivaled that about Japan (compare the prints by Picart hanging nearby). In this set of views, some have a European feel, as in the View of Peking, which has framing trees on the left, in the manner of the classical landscape tradition. Others like The Country Seat of a Provincial Governor, Built over an Artificial Cascade with Pleasure House in the Midst of a Lake imitate the less realistic Chinese landscape style with buildings almost floating like clouds on the crater and abrupt hillocks beyond.

Provenance

Laurence Sickman (1907-1988), Kansas City, MO, by May 8, 1988;

Bequest of Laurence Sickman to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1988.

Published References

James Orange, The Chater Collection. Pictures Relating to China, Hongkong, Macao, 1655-1860, Section 12, Miscellaneous (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1924), no. 3.6, p. 482, as Chinese Landscapes: A perspective view of that great City Canton in China.

Occidental Graphics from the Collection of Laurence Sickman, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 13- October 18, 1992, p. 3.

George L. McKenna, Prints, 1460-1995 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1996), 282, as A Chinese Triumph Arch, esteem'd the most Elegant at Canton in China.

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