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The Costume of China / Picturesque Representations of the Dress and Manners of the Chinese cover

The Costume of China / Picturesque Representations of the Dress and Manners of the Chinese

Chapter 8: Plate VII. A JUGGLER, PERFORMING TRICKS WITH JARS.
By William Alexander
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About This Book

An illustrated volume presents fifty colored engravings with descriptive text that surveys dress, occupations, and social customs across urban and rural settings. Plates depict court and military attire with insignia indicating rank, everyday laborers, domestic servants, entertainers, religious practitioners and rituals, market and transport scenes, and tools and weapons, often accompanied by explanations of materials, costume elements, and local practices such as fishing methods and funerary observances. The commentary mixes observational notes on appearance and behavior with practical details about trades, ceremonies, and the visual markers of status.

Plate VII.
 
A JUGGLER,
 
PERFORMING TRICKS WITH JARS.

This engraving exhibits a posture-master balancing two large China vases, and throwing himself into most extraordinary attitudes; he exhibited a variety of curious postures before the Ambassador, at his lodgings opposite to Canton, and played with the large jars precisely in the same manner as the Indian jugglers, in Pall-mall, toss about the large round stone of twelve or fourteen pounds weight; but those who have seen both are inclined to give the palm to the Chinese.

China—Plate 8