Figure of Asia and Africa from the Four Continents
manufactured by Chelsea Porcelain Factory (Britain, London, 1745–84)
c. 1760
- Medium
- soft-paste porcelain
- Classification
- Ceramic
- Dimensions
- Overall: 23.5 x 17.6 x 18.7 cm (9 1/4 x 6 15/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- England, Chelsea, mid-18th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Decorative Art and Design
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Often collected by wealthy British merchants who were beneficiaries of colonial expansion, figural groups were frequently part of elaborate table decorations meant to signify wealth and global dominance. In this work, Africa, who wears an elephant headdress and holds a scorpion in one hand, wrestles with Asia, who is surrounded by perfumes and native fruits. These depictions of Africa and Asia reveal a purely imagined understanding of faraway places.
