Human world
Portrait of George III by a Chinese artist, reverse-glass painting, after Thomas Frye
Accession Number 1993.69
Asia and Europe have exchanged ideas for over 2000 years.
Asian people developed images of Europeans through their encounters with European people and objects.
In the 1690s, Asian craftspeople travelled to European outposts in Asia. They learnt about and made European objects. By the 17th century craftspeople were making very desirable objects that the European market wanted.
You can see objects made in Asia to sell to Europe. They tell us a lot about how Asian people have seen and portrayed Europe.