A Fishmonger
1790
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1790
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
A Fishmonger is a 1790 paint by Puqua, a Patna School of Painting work, depicting Fishing, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a fishmonger holding a large fish by its tail. He wears a loose shirt and stands in bright daylight. The fish looks heavy, its scales glistening. Puqua painted this in Guangzhou around 1790. It’s not dramatic, but the light makes the fish’s skin almost pop off the page. You can almost smell the salt and wet scales. If you like this, check out works by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
A rectangular watercolour painting from 1790 depicts a fishmonger in grey crouching beside a four-pronged, sideless basket from which fish are sold. The work is part of a set of 100 paintings illustrating various trades and occupations in Canton. It was purchased from Parsons & Sons and accessioned into the collection in 1898, as recorded in the Asia Department registers during a 2022 provenance research project.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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