Camellia in Old Chinese Vase on Black Lacquer Table

According to Mark D. Mitchell, "La Farge collected Japanese art and incorporated Asian aesthetic principles and objects in his compositions from the very beginning of his career, around 1860, when he married the great-niece of Commodore Matthew Perry, who had opened trade between Japan and the West in 1854...La Farge's interest in Asian aesthetics continued...becoming a vehicle for some of his most expressive and enduring works." (The Art of American Still Life: Audubon to Warhol, exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2015, p. 201). The present work is no exception, with a blossoming pink camellia placed in a Ming porcelain bowl, executed with the expressive brushwork and vivid color that is characteristic of La Farge's oeuvre.