2010.631 2010.630
July 2010
Reverse glass paintings were produced for European and American merchants and display strong European influences, with a focus on portraiture, landscape and historical scenes. Their unique blend of Chinese and western aesthetics convey the intersecting cultural and economic exchanges taking place through the active China trade of the period. These stylised portraits reflect such cross-cultural encounters – one a European mother and child, evoking the Madonna and Child; the other a formally dressed Chinese woman in Qing dynasty garb.
