CHINA, 19th century. Set of six gouaches on rice... Lot 31

CHINA, 19th century. Set of six gouaches on rice paper representing the allegories of the arts. H. from 24.3 x 16.2 cm to 25.9 x 18 cm (on view) condition: a few small tears Provenance: Vaud collection Note: In Guangzhou, the trade in export oil paintings as well as that on rice paper was immense, beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, with a climax in the early nineteenth to decline around 1850, after the second Anglo-Chinese war and the opening of 5 other trading ports. Numerous albums of working figures are attributed to the Tingqua workshops (iibid, figs. 34 & 36), but there were others such as those of Lamqua, Youqua and Sunqua (see. "Late Qing China Trade Paintings, HK museum of Art 9.7.82-22.8.82, pr. Urban Council HK 1982 p. 11), these workshops practiced the division of labor that made it mechanical, one painter did the trees, a second the feet and hands, a third the figures and another the houses. After the burning of the warehouses in Guangzhou, the studios gradually moved to Hong Kong, where there were only two studios in 1867 (ManHing & Lai Sang), there were 7 in 1872 and 15 in 1884 including Youqua and Namcheong. For a character album on rice paper stamped Sunqua Macao, see Sotheby's Chinese and Japanese Works of Art (Part 2) lot 626, and another stamped on the front page Youqua Painter, Old Street No 34 at Sotheby's London of 10 Nov 2010 lot 32. With the introduction of photography in China, the demand for this type of painting declined and many of these painters became photographers: "Mun Hing" is recorded as "Portrait Painter" & "Photographer", "See Tay" is called "Photographer and Painter", see for this the "Directory & Chronicle of China, Japan, 1873, Daily Press Office, HK, pp. 36 & 11."