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Source 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.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
97959
label
Figure of Asia and Africa from the Four Continents
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
97959
contentType
object
title
Figure of Asia and Africa from the Four Continents
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.
date
c. 1760
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60751628
creators
18265
genreSpecific
Ceramic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 23.5 x 17.6 x 18.7 cm (9 1/4 x 6 15/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
cul
England, Chelsea, mid-18th century
accession
1917.601.2
Source extras
tec
soft-paste porcelain
tombstone
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
collection
Decorative Arts
formerAccessionNumbers
1917.602
didYouKnow
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.
citations
citation
F. A. W. "The Bequests of Mary Warden Harkness: A Tribute and an Accounting." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 15, no. 2 (February 1928): 43-50.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 43
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25137106
creditline
Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:17:08.226000
sourceId
97959
dept
Decorative Art and Design
coll
Decorative Arts
med
soft-paste porcelain
creatorTags
gender unknown
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
db721a31bf916fc0