The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Pairs of Figures from the Four Continents
c. 1760
manufactured by
(Britain, London, 1745–84)
Part 1: 24.6 x 18.9 x 16.9 cm (9 11/16 x 7 7/16 x 6 5/8 in.); Part 2: 23.5 x 17.6 x 18.7 cm (9 1/4 x 6 15/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness 1917.601
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
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.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 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. Today we recognize these depictions of America, Africa, and Asia as racial stereotypes, revealing a purely imagined understanding of other cultures and continents at the time.- ?-1916Mary Warden Harkness [1864-1916], New York, NY, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art1917-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- "Bequest of Mrs. Charles W. Harkness." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 4 (1917): 63. Mentioned: p. 63 www.jstor.orgF. 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. Mentioned: p. 43 25137106
- Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 2, 1934).
- {{cite web|title=Pairs of Figures from the Four Continents|url=false|author=Chelsea Porcelain Factory|year=c. 1760|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1917.601