Thursday, September 1, 2016

Ionides collection II

Chinese export porcelain
European woman
c. 1735-45
Victoria & Albert Museum

Constantine Alexander Ionides (1833-1900) toward the end of his life concentrated less on buying new paintings and more on buying precious objects. He made, for example, a fascinating collection of 18th-century export porcelain figures from China depicting Europeans. Curators at the Victoria & Albert Museum speculate that the Chinese artists who created the figures may well never have set eyes on a living European. Almost certainly the immediate models for several of these figures (including the woman in the horned headdress, above) would have been European engravings.  

Chinese export porcelain
European woman
c. 1730-50
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European woman
c. 1730-50
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European couple
18th century
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European couple
18th century
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European couple
late 18th century
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European woman
c. 1700
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European man
c. 1700
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European woman
c. 1760
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European man
c. 1760-80
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European gardener
1760s
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European gardener
1760s
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
Dutch couple
late 18th century
Victoria & Albert Museum

Chinese export porcelain
European couple dancing
late 18th century
Victoria & Albert Museum