Still Life: Tea Set

Liotard's Still Life: Tea Set of 1781, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, is among the most celebrated still lifes of the eighteenth century—a disciplined meditation on the surfaces of porcelain, glass, and white linen that anticipates the still-life traditions of the following century. Made when Liotard was seventy-nine years old, it demonstrates the extraordinary consistency of his visual intelligence across a very long career. Tea sets were among the most prized possessions of European affluence in this period—Chinese and later Meissen porcelain carried enormous social cachet—and depicting them with the precision Liotard brings was simultaneously a demonstration of technical mastery and a celebration of the material pleasures of civilised life. The Getty Museum's acquisition reflects the recognition of this work as one of the major still lifes in European art. Pastel on cardboard creates an intimacy appropriate to a small-format domestic subject.

Pastel on cardboard: the challenge of rendering reflective porcelain glazes, translucent glass, and matte white linen within the same pastel composition tests the full range of Liotard's technique. He differentiates each surface through the density and direction of his pastel strokes.