Illusion on Paper:

A Rediscovered Eighteenth-Century Chinese Trompe-l’œil Still-Life

Abstract

This short notice reassesses A Cupboard Containing Various Objects, an eighteenth-century Chinese trompe-l’œil still life in the Rijksmuseum’s collection. Conservation and infrared imaging revealed a hybrid production method combining woodblock-printed outlines with hand-applied colour, suggesting collaborative workshop practices and possible multiple versions. The composition depicts a cupboard filled with scholarly objects, fruits, porcelain and leisure items, reflecting Qing material culture and evoking themes of learning, prosperity, refinement and sociability. As such, it fits within contemporary pictorial traditions of wenfangtu (images of scholarly objects) or bogutu (images of antiquities). Stylistic and iconographic evidence points to a mid-eighteenth-century Cantonese origin, linked to export workshops and regional practices. The work also exemplifies cross-cultural exchange, incorporating a European-influenced perspective while engaging Chinese court aesthetics and parallels with Korean chaekgado. This study emphasizes the still life’s significance as an illusionistic image that merges print and painting, local production and circulation, and decorative and intellectual meanings.