673 - Chinese reverse glass painting, scholars with books in house and garden by mountains, 20th century

Chinese reverse glass painting, scholars with books in house and garden by mountains, 20th century Reverse glass painting, some areas printed in a monotype-like manner, unsigned, 20th century, scene of scholarship, on the left an interior with red columns, a table and a wall picture with landscape in a blue meander border, on the right a garden with rocks, tree and balustrade before a mountain landscape, men in traditional robes with books sitting in the house and in the garden, good condition commensurate with age, slightly rubbed in places, image 54x83 cm (HxW), black frame with two hangers, frame width 3 cm Reverse glass painting emerged in Europe during the Renaissance and reached China through Jesuit missionaries, where Chinese painters mastered the technique in the 18th century. The painting is done on the back of a glass pane in reverse order of layers, and the picture is viewed from the front through the glass. In the workshops of Canton, reverse glass paintings were made for the Western market, portraits of resident foreigners, copies of European models and views of the harbour, which were exported in large quantities circa the middle of the 19th century. Scenes with scholars, books and garden landscapes belong to the range of subjects of Chinese export painting, which is also called China Trade painting.