Design for a China Plate c. 1882

Eugene Carriere created this “Design for a China Plate” with graphite and wash on paper. During the late 19th century, there was an increased fascination with Japonisme which influenced Western art and design. It presents a traditional still-life of a duck and wine bottles, typical of French bourgeois dining. However, Carriere infuses it with a dreamlike quality through his monochromatic wash technique and ghostly figures, which subverts conventional representations. The delicate rendering of the cherry blossom branch contrasts with the solid form of the duck, which evokes both fragility and the transience of beauty. Carriere was deeply interested in themes of memory and introspection, which stemmed from personal experiences of loss. “The only reality is feeling,” he once said, suggesting that his artistic output was focused on capturing emotional states rather than objective reality. This work invites us to contemplate the intersection between domestic comfort and the deeper, often melancholic, aspects of human existence.