This is a European pastoral love scene, painted in China for the export market (chine de commande), dating to the Qianlong period (c. 1750–1770).

Key elements:

• The man with hat and Rifle: a shepherd or hunter — symbol of simplicity, nature, and sincerity

• The seated woman: a shepherdess or young lady — beauty, grace, receptiveness. She has a bird on a leash and the basket for her bird on her.

• The figure in the tree: not sure what this figure means, but it seems he is spying on them.

Origin of the image

The scene is European in origin, not Chinese:

• Based on 18th-century European engravings, especially French Rococo

• Often derived from artists such as François Boucher, Antoine Watteau, or Nicolas Lancret

• Such prints were brought to China by European traders (VOC, Compagnie des Indes, etc.)

Chinese porcelain painters copied these engravings, sometimes very faithfully, sometimes with subtle reinterpretations.

Some examples in the literature are added in the gallery.

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