id: 97959 accession number: 1917.601.2 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.601.2 updated: 2022-01-13 10:00:30.922000 Figure of Asia and Africa from the Four Continents, c. 1760. Chelsea Porcelain Factory (Britain, London, 1745-84). Soft-paste porcelain; overall: 23.5 x 17.6 x 18.7 cm (9 1/4 x 6 15/16 x 7 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness 1917.601.2 title: Figure of Asia and Africa from the Four Continents title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1760 creation date earliest: 1755 creation date latest: 1765 current location: creditline: Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness copyright: --- culture: England, Chelsea, mid-18th century technique: soft-paste porcelain department: Decorative Art and Design collection: Decorative Arts type: Ceramic find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Chelsea Porcelain Factory (Britain, London, 1745-84) - manufactured by --- measurements: Overall: 23.5 x 17.6 x 18.7 cm (9 1/4 x 6 15/16 x 7 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries opening date: 1934-11-09T05:00:00 Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 2, 1934). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * --- PROVENANCE Mary Warden Harkness [1864-1916], New York, NY, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1916 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1917- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Figural representations of the four continents date back to the 1500s, but such imagery became even more popular in the 1700s as European empires expanded. digital description: 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. wall description: Figural representations of the four continents date back to the 1500s, but such imagery became even more popular in the 1700s as European empires expanded. 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 prominence.

In one pair, Europe is seen holding an orb and wearing a crown as queen of the world, suggesting Europe’s supremacy over the other continents. She is entangled with America, who is wearing feathers with a bow and arrow at her feet. 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 America, Africa, and Asia reveal a purely imagined understanding of faraway places. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS F. A. W. "The Bequests of Mary Warden Harkness: A Tribute and an Accounting." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 15, no. 2 (February 1928): 43-50. page number: Mentioned: p. 43 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25137106 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.601.2/1917.601.2_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.601.2/1917.601.2_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.601.2/1917.601.2_full.tif