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The Imperial City of Peking, with a View of the Great Wall on the Mountains, which Separates China and Tartary
The Imperial City of Peking, with a View of the Great Wall on the Mountains, which Separates China and Tartary

The Imperial City of Peking, with a View of the Great Wall on the Mountains, which Separates China and Tartary

Artist John Couse (English, active ca. 1750)
Artist After Catharina Sperling Heckel (English, 1699 - 1741)
Dateca. 1775
MediumHand-colored etching
DimensionsPlate: 6 3/4 × 10 15/16 inches (17.22 × 27.76 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Laurence Sickman
Object numberF88-48/1
On View
Not on view
Collections
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. 13.

Decorative Designs, Decorative Landscapes and Still Life, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 29-November 8, 2009, no cat., as The Imperial City of Peking, with a View of the Great Wall on the Mountains, which Separates China and Tartary.

Decorative Designs, Decorative Landscapes and Still Life, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 15-July 16, 2017, no cat., as The Imperial City of Peking, with a View of the Great Wall on the Mountains, which Separates China and Tartary.

Gallery Label
Curiosity about China in the 18th century rivaled that about Japan. 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, p. 482, as Chinese Landscapes: The Imperial City of Peking with part of the Great Wall—Mountains that divide Tartary and 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 The Imperial City of Peking, with a View of the Great Wall on the Mountains, which Separates China and Tartary.

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