Tamara H. Bentley
· 2025
Abstract
This essay focuses on three Qing dynasty Chinese incised lacquer screens picturing Europeans hunting and parading. Overall, the organization of these compositions, and the treatment of the Europeans, is derived from earlier Japanese Nanban imagery of 1580 to 1640 showing the Portuguese in Japan. The latter two Chinese screens considered here clearly readapt such imagery in order to depict Dutch figures. The gestures of hunting on horseback, meanwhile, are tied to earlier Chinese and Japanese images of Mongols hunting. Considering these layered references, and the mix-and-match quality of lacquer screen production, the essay argues for a broad range of coexisting associations, including humor, fear of “ uncivilized” behavior, and the assertion of European political subservience by way of pictured tribute parades.