Painting

This painting is from a set of 11 depicting women playing different kinds of Chinese musical instruments. The seated woman is playing the 'sheng' – a reed instrument – while her companion creates the rhythm by cracking two pairs of small cups.

Artists in Canton (Guangzhou), in southern China, made such paintings for Europeans eager to find out more about China and its people. In the 18th century Canton became the principal – and later the only – trading port at which Europeans were permitted to buy Chinese goods.