Copy: porcelain plate depicting a couple in Hindeloopen costume, from: China, Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng period

In her work, Teresa Linhard explores 19th-century Chinoiserie – that is, the European conception of an imagined China. These depictions are less representations of a real culture than they are projections born of distance, imagination and cultural misunderstandings. At the same time, images of Europeans were being produced in China during the same period, often on porcelain specifically manufactured for export to Europe.

The image on her work depicts a couple in Hindeloop traditional dress out for a walk. It is noteworthy that this scene appears in slightly modified variations on various porcelain objects. The motif recurs, changes minimally, and circulates across different objects.

With regard to the theme of time, she is particularly interested in this movement of images: how motifs are reproduced, copied and varied over long periods of time. The small shifts between the depictions make time visible – as a process of repetition, transmission and change. In this way, the image becomes a vessel for historical traces, in which trade routes, cultural encounters and different moments of perception overlap.