Estimate

4.000 - 6.000

Session 1

21 October 2019

Hammer Price

Description

Black and gilt Chinese lacquer cover and back centred by a cartouche of Oriental figures in a landscape with pagodas and monogram O.F.B.
Inscribed on the back "“A SUA MULHER OFFERECE JOÃO MANOEL DE FREITAS BRANCO MACAO 7 DE SETEMBRO DE 1870” and central garden scene.
48 mixed media paintings on rice paper, of Court scenes, Theatre scenes, Chinese boats and Daily scenes
(losses and defects)

6 x 35 x 23,5 cm (álbum) 23,5 x 34 cm (pintura)

Category

Objects

Additional Information

The first 12 paintings are of a rare subject, of which we highlight the birth, the feeding, the Prince's education, the Emperor's audience and the death of the Elderly Emperor
The subsequent 12 paintings refer to theatre scenes of dramatic nature
Of the 12 depictions of boats we highlight the following:
depictions of two ancient Chinese sailing boats decorated with large eyes on the stern
Depiction of the Dragon Boat having a Dragon's head on the bow
Depiction of the duck boat
Depiction of leisure boats

Finally the 12 Chinese daily scenes; the first three refer to tea production and the remaining nine allude to silk thread production
These painting are an example of a Chinese production dating from the 1820s (the dating of the earliest paintings on rice paper)
These works were mass produced by a variety of artists, what explains the close similarities between our album and those kept at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
In 1844, Osmond Tiffany, and American visiting Canton, describes what he sees in one of these workshops; "In every artist’s studio are to be found the paintings on what is called rice paper. This is very delicate and brittle, and nothing can exceed the splendour of the colours employe in representing the trades, occupations, life ceremonies, religions, etc, of the Chinese, which all appear in perfect truth in these productions… [They] may be obtained for a very reasonable sum, in boxes or bound up in books. They cost, for the usual class of excellence, from one to two dollars a dozen… Or you may order a set comprising the emperor and empress, and the chief mandarins, and court ladies, in the most significant attire, and finished like miniatures, for eight dollars".
Depicting various aspects of Chinese daily life these images were their contemporaries post cards destined to be acquired by western visitors
Amongst the rarest are those portraying scenes of the various Qing emperor's (1644-1911) life's, such as the first twelve depictions of the present album

Literature: AA.VV. – “ The Chinese Pith Painting – collection at National Library of Australia”, National library of Australia, Canberra, 2017.