CHINA - Embroidered silk figures on a blue background representing the shanghua or flower festival. 20th century. 31.5 x 65 cm (view)

[CHINA]. YOEEQUA. Album of 12 paintings on rice paper. Guangzhou, circa 1835. In-4 (approx. 33 x 25 cm). A rare and superb collection of exquisitely painted compositions. The support is made of translucent vegetable pith, usually referred to as "rice paper" or "mulberry pith". The freshness of the well-preserved colors is remarkable. The album bears a red stamp on the verso of the upper cover: "Yoeequa Painter / old street N° 34". This is the mark of a Chinese painter or workshop active in Guangzhou around 1830-1840, who mainly produced such collections of drawings documenting Chinese flora, customs and industries. Composition of the 12 plates: 1. male figure. - 2. female figure. 3. Flower, wasp, butterfly. - 4. two birds. - 5. furnishings (altar?). - 6. Jonque. - 7. butterflies. - 8. two fish. - 9. begging, man strangled. - 10. butterfly on branch with berries - 11. Two birds. - 12. Butterflies and insects. The contemporary binding is in silk with an azure-blue background, decorated with repeated floral motifs embroidered in three colors and golden yellow, with closing laces; it was probably supplied by the workshop. Each plate is held in place by an azure-blue silk border. (Binding spine worn; snags on several plates, wetness in the inner margins only slightly affecting the illustration on one plate).