Beauty and the Beast 

George Henry painted 'Beauty and the Beast' in Scotland, and it encapsulates the cultural fascination with the ‘Orient’ prevalent in Western art of the time. Here, the ‘beauty’ is a young girl adorned in a Western-style frilly dress and bow. But next to her we find the ‘beast’, a porcelain Chinese guardian lion. The presence of the lion speaks to the fashion for collecting Orientalist art and objects. This fashion was partly fueled by the museum culture of the 19th century, as institutions acquired and displayed art from around the world, exposing the public to new cultures but in a colonial context. These objects became status symbols, reflecting the collector’s taste and worldliness. As art historians, we examine these objects critically, researching the social and economic conditions that allowed for their acquisition and display, revealing much about the power dynamics of the era.