Minneapolis Institute of Art

Punch bowl with Swedish banknote

China

Date

c. 1762

Medium

Porcelain

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

From the 1730s to the mid 1800s, Sweden's East India Company regularly left Gothenburg bound for Canton where, after nearly a year at sea, they purchased silks, tea, spices, and porcelain. Wealthy Swedish consumers were among the first in Europe to order porcelain customized with coats of arms, portraits, or Scandinavian landscapes. Sources for these decorations were sent to China in the forms of drawings, prints, bookplates. An actual bank note was most likely the source for the interior decoration of this bowl. The bank note is dated 1762, when Sweden faced economic upheaval due to its participation in the Seven Years War. Asia

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.