Genre Scene

Genre paintings were another popular subject of Chinese export painting. As most foreigner traders would not have been invited into a Chinese household, it is hard to say if these paintings were exoticized for the foreign gaze or accurate in their depiction of domestic settings. The two Chinese individuals depicted here are shown with porcelain teacups and vases, a smoking pipe, wearing silks, and with lacquerware furniture and artworks on the wall. All of these items were frequently traded by the Chinese and helped contribute to the eighteenth-century chinoiserie craze in Europe.