[LAM-QUA/TING-QUA SCHOOL]Biblio.com
SUITE OF TWELVE GOAUCHE PAINTINGS OF CHINESE ON PITH PAPERBound in Black on G.
35006201Canton ca.1800-1820 Lam-Qua.Black lacquer gold painted 12 fine gouache hand-drawn & colored paintings 12.5 x 16.5 cm. very fine condition each mounted in an album with old gold paper corners on pith paperexcellent example. RARE ! . . . A SUPERB SUITE OF TWELVE STUNNING COLOR PITH PAINTINGS . . . ILLUSTRATING VARIOUS CHINESE IN ELABORATE COSTUME . This is a charming suite of 12 lovely portraits of Chinese men women and military men. . THE PAINTED SUBJECTS: . 1. An old sage holds a scroll of holy texts while he is seated behind him stands a guard with a pole sword. . 2. A young warrior holds a long axe ready for action. . 3. A young lady a white porcelain teacup. . 4. A warrior holds his halberd ready for action. . 5. A fierce older warrior holds a sword and his shield. . 6. A guard holds his long sword at the ready. . 7. An elderly man strokes his long beard. . 8. A young man takes a stroll holding a fan behind his back. . 9. An elderly an holds two Burmese-green jade bracelets. . 10. A man holds a feather fan. . 11. A very old man holds his long sword. . 12. A bearded man points with his hand toward the right. . The twelve paintings are gently mounted to stiff black album pages with the old style "NuAce" photo mounting corners. There is no damage to the paintings with this technique. . THE STUNNING GOLD OVER BLACK ILLUSTRATED LACQUER COVERS: This is a very unusual binding hand-painted in gold lacquer over black lacquer background on wooden boards. . The cover illustration shows five Chinese: The Lord & Master; his concubine; his son Prince; his retainer; and the maid. . The Lord & master is seen seated before a tea service with three golden cups and a golden ceramic tea pot. The Lord & Master reaches for the hand of his fair and very young concubine who holds a fan. The tea service is clearly for three people: The Lord & Master his son the Prince and the concubine. . The retainer is seated just behind the Lord & Master's right side showing proper respect by looking at the floor. The young Prince the son is seated before his father and looks at the concubine. At the rear is the maid waiting for order. She puts her right hand on the adjacent table holding a tray. . The work has an elaborate and stunning border. In the upper corners are two stunning illustrations: the upper left sows the Golden Dragon in the upper right is the Phoenix. At the left center margin is a golden Peacock. The margin-borders are elaborately done with differing traditional Chinese patterns and designs. A most stunning view inside of the . The back is plain black lacquer. . The spine is black leather with period Chinese swastika design white over black end papers. Some of the old glue is showing through the very thin tissue endpapers else very solid with heavy black pages. . CONDITION OF THE GOLD AND BLACK LACQUER COVERS: The covers are in exceptionally good condition. There are two minor spots: one ca. 1.5 cm spot at the son's midsection and another black spot .05 cm just below his robe. . There is the very small amount of occasional and barely visible usual and very minor mild scuffing with a minor discoloration of the face of the maid. There is a bit of 'crackle' to the black lacquer which is normal for a piece 200 years old. Else this is in very nice condition. . CONDITION OF THE PAINTINGS: These are exceptionally bright and clean drawings lightly mounted on a now browned backing paper with blue-glossy patterned paper borders. . Numbers: . 1 has a tiny 1.5 & .5 cm. small split at bottom left this does not affect the painting. . 2 has the lower portion folded in the process of paper-making which is normal variation and does not detract. . 5 has a tiny 1 cm. split at top in the margin this does not affect the painting. . 9 has a 7 cm. split from the elbow to the bottom of the work apparently restored from the verso minimal impact. . 11 has a small 1 cm. scuff in the right margin this does not affect the image. . 12 has a similar but less obvious 1 cm. scuff in the right margin at the same place as #11 this does not affect the image. . The balance i.e. numbers: 3467810 are without issues. . OVERLY CRITICAL: We are commonly obsessive and overly critical about pointing out any and all defects. Please view the scans posted to our website. All in all these look much better than the above description. Perfectly clean no blemishes. . NOTE: Typically "pith" paintings are prone to be very brittle and delicate. We are happy to state this suite is exceptionally very solid and intact. The colors are brilliant bright and stunningly fresh without any fading or issues. They appear to have been properly cared for protected. These are in excellent "Collector's Condition." . PAINTING QUALITY AND FRESH BRILLIANTLY COLORED: The paintings are meticulously executed with fine detail painted a steady skilled hand. . LAM-QUA TING-QUA SCHOOLS: The works are done in the Canton style of Lam-Qua and his brother Ting-qua. See link below. . Ting-qua born ca. 1809; flourished 1840-70. He was the brother of Lam-Qua 1801-1860 and probably a close relation of Spoilum. Ting-qua's studio at 16 China Street Guangzhou was perhaps the most prolific source of Chinese export paintings of its time. Working in a manner influenced by Western artistic traditions Ting-qua and the painters of his studio restricted themselves to gouache and water-colors perhaps to avoid rivalry with Lam-qua's oil paintings. Their pictures which were often sold in sets." . PITH PAPER: The paintings were done on pith paper. "Pith paper or rice paper" a misnomer as it is sometimes known is made from the inner pith of the plant Tetrapanex papyrifera which is a member of the Araliaceae family. The plant is a shrub native to Southern China and Taiwan. As well as a painting material pith paper was used to make artificial flowers and surgical dressings." . RARITY: Gouache pith paintings are now rare most were damaged cracked and brittle rendering them useless. The few that survived are considered RARE and uncommon. The paintings were drawn with much skill and patience and were for the most part drawn for and sold to foreigners in the treaty ports of China in the early 19th century. Drawn with a fine brush in vivid colors the paintings depicted things that would fascinate foreigners and encourage them to bring home as souvenirs. The current examples shows portraits of Chinese officials guards military men as well as upper class citizens. . Albums of pith paintings were typically issued in a suite of twelve. . BIBLIOGRAPHY: . -org/wiki/Lam_Qua C.L. Crossman.: THE DECORATIVE ARTS OF THE CHINA TRADE p.173-203 and the associated color and b.w. photo examples. . C.L. Crossman.: THE CHINA TRADE p.93-120 and the photos. Arthur Chu.: ORIENTAL ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES pp.62-67 photo #60. . . unknown
