Man Selling Soft Bean Curd
1790
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1790
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Man Selling Soft Bean Curd is a 1790 paint by Puqua, a Patna School of Painting work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a man standing behind a table, holding a wooden scoop over a bowl of soft bean curd. He wears a simple robe and a straw hat. The background is plain, so your eyes stay on him and his work. It’s one of 100 small paintings made to show European buyers what daily life in Canton looked like. Each one focuses on a different job or trade. This guy’s outfit and the bowl of bean curd make it easy to picture the scene. If these kinds of scenes interest you, try looking up Puqua.
A rectangular watercolor painting depicts a man selling soft bean curd, carrying two large baskets balanced on a shoulder pole, with bowls visible at the top of one basket and a lantern in hand. Part of a set of 100 images illustrating trades and occupations in Canton, the work was created for European audiences seeking information about Chinese society.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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