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Courtesy of the artist, photo: Dan Weill
Sailor
Courtesy of the artist, photo: Dan Weill

Sailor

Date2018
Label TextThe female figure, the woman of the house, is engaged in the act of “taking tea,” steeped in luxury with an elaborate dress. The ship on top of her head serves as a reminder of the long voyage that brought not only fashionable porcelain but also the commodity of tea to her household. Through two shipwrecked sailors and an enslaved page, Partington exposes the degradation of human life and the reality of trades reliant on precarious ocean voyages and human exploitation. These figures reveal the human cost of the European craze for Chinese products.
Object number2019.6.6
ProvenanceCommissioned from the artist by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2018
Photo CreditCourtesy of the artist, photo: Dan Weill
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Claire Partington: Taking Tea, Dec. 7, 2018 - Dec. 6, 2020. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022.
Credit LineGuendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Endowment for the Decorative Arts
Dimensions7 7/8 x 10 5/8 x 26 in. (20 x 27 x 66 cm)
MediumPaper porcelain and celadon glaze
Courtesy of the artist, photo: Dan Weill
2018
Object number: 2019.6.5
Photo: Natali Wiseman
2018
Object number: 2019.6
Brush Washer
Chinese
1662-1722
Object number: 44.119
Tripod incense burner
Chinese
14th-15th century
Object number: 58.53
Sweetmeat Dish
Bow Porcelain Manufactory, London, England
ca. 1750
Object number: 66.84
Floral finial
ca. 1740 - 45
Object number: 87.142.25
circa 1755-1760
Object number: 2003.63
Courtesy of the artist, photo: Dan Weill
2018
Object number: 2019.6.2
Courtesy of the artist, photo: Dan Weill
2018
Object number: 2019.6.3
Miniature medicine bottle
Chinese
ca. 1500
Object number: 98.49.4
Photo: National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea
Korean
10th-11th century
Object number: 90.58