Door from the Ca' Rezzonico, Venice
ca. 1760
Who are these people? The scene in the upper panel of the door presents a figure on horseback. Although he is dressed in the flowing robes and turban associated with the garb of a Middle Eastern pasha or an Indian mogul, his features are Caucasian—an example of exotic motifs that mixed Eastern costumes and accessories with European faces. The lower panel is a model example of chinoiserie depicting European interpretations of life in China: gentlemen with Chinese-style silk garments, hats, and long mustaches, placed in make-believe settings of unusual plants and pagoda-like buildings. Eighteenth-century palaces along the Grand Canal in Venice—like the Ca’ Rezzonico (now a municipal museum of decorative arts)—featured rooms painted and furnished in the Chinese manner.
Wood, oil lacquer, gilt
111 3/8 x 56 x 2 1/8 in. (282.9 x 142.2 x 5.4 cm)
Gift of Richard Louis Brown, in honor of Julie Emerson
2014.17
Provenance: Palazzo Ca’Rezzonico, Venice, Italy; [Adolph Loewi, Venice, Italy, then Los Angeles, California by 1938]; John Yeon, San Francisco, California and Portland, Oregon, 1953-1994 (his death); by inheritance to Richard Louis Brown, Portland, Oregon, 1994-2014 (at Seattle Art Museum as loan from Mr. Brown since 1991); gift to Seattle Art Museum, 2014
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
