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Best.-Nr. 38044201 — Canton 1860-80's Cheungqua. A single pith or Tongcao color painting usual minimal issues clean & solid example brilliantly vivid colors rarely found in such clean & fine condition. A RARE EXAMPLE ! . . . . FINE CHINESE COLOR PITH PAINTINGS . . . SHOWING BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED CHINESE IMPERIAL COURT LADY . . . EXECUTED IN STUNNING & BRILLIANT COLORS . . . AKA: CHINESE EXPORT WATERCOLOURS . A stunning Chinese Imperial Court. She wears a golden-embroidered outer dress with elaborate collar sleeves and hem. She wears pink silk-embroidered pants and her "lotus" bound feet are on a wooden stool. She sits on a Ming dynasty style Huahuali wood chair with a fan in her right hand and silk-embroidered accessory in her left. Adjacent to her is a matching Ming table with three ripe 'You' fruits pommel. . This is a typical studio trade painting" executed by Chinese native artists hand-painted color pith painting for foreign traders visiting Canton or Macao during the early to mid-19th century. . "GOLDEN LOTUS" or "LOTUS FEET" BOUND FEET Chanzu: This like most illustrations of the period show the woman with bound feet peeking out below her pant cuff. Chanzu bound feet was an erotic obsession and fetish in ancient China. The erotic ramifications are outlined in the references below. . DESCRIPTION OF THE PAINTING ART WORK AND CONDITION: . This painting is in brilliant vivid and stunning colors. Skillfully painted with a fine hand delicate fine-point brush with great detail incredible reality texture and appeal. . As usual this paintings was tipped to a contemporary stiff backing paper card. . This painting is approximately 19.5 x 27.5 cm. . There are a few old mends on the verso the image is not impacted it remains quite solid and very stable. By and large a far and above average excellent example. Suitable for framing and display. . Please review the photograph posted to our website for details. . "RICE PAPER" PAINTINGS: Several authors refer to this name rather than the proper name "Pith" paper paintings also can be called "Tung Tsao." . THE CANTON ARTIST OR 'SCHOOL' OF CHEUNG QUA: Cheung Qua was an export watercolor painter in Canton. He and followers of his school produced various single and albums of these paintings which were sold from his studio. . Often his in-house artists began painting on their own thus replicating the techniques subjects and essence of their masters. Because these paintings were rarely signed the one and only identification ever found was occasionally on the album cover or spine with the studio name. . Often these paintings were sold in various shops in Macao the main resting and gathering place of foreigners during part of the year. . REFERENCE: . CLUNAS Craig.: CHINESE EXPORT WATERCOLOURS. This entire book is devoted to Pith or Rice paper paintings. For musical instruments see color plates on pp.50-53 especially plates on pp.66-67 plates 39 & 40 are particularly similar to our examples that is to say by the same or an artist who was in the same house of Cheungqua or that school. CHU Arthur. et al.: ORIENTAL ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES: A GUIDE pp.62-66. THE CHINESE PITH PAINTING COLLECTION AT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA: An Annotated Guide. Crossman Carl L. The decorative arts of the China trade : paintings furnishings and exotic curiosities. LEVY Howard S.: CHINESE FOOT BINDING: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom. . --. THE LOTUS LOVERS: The Complete History of the Curious Erotic Custom of Foot binding in China. JACKSON Beverly.: SPLENDID SLIPPERS: A THOUSAND YEARS OF AN EROTIC TRADITION. . . unknown