A Chinese Export ‘European subject’ Punch Bowl, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period, Circa 1765 | 清乾隆 約1765年 墨彩描金西洋人物圖大盌

Kee'Il Choi, London, June 1989

The subject of the four men drinking is taken from an engraving ‘The Queen’s Arms, a Night’s Amusement’, published in 1764. The scene is more usually found on the reverse of bowls decorated with the seated figure of John Wilkes, for a discussion of which see David Howard and John Ayres, China for the West, London and New York, 1978, p. 244.