China Trade Watercolor Pictures of Junks & Sampans

Description

China Trade Watercolor Pictures of Junks & Sampans,
Set of Five,
Circa 1850

The Chinese watercolor paintings on pith paper … more China Trade Watercolor Pictures of Junks & Sampans,
Set of Five,
Circa 1850

The Chinese watercolor paintings on pith paper each depict a different Chinese ship. The pith paper pictures are mounted within a gilt frame with a wide green matte.

Dimensions: 11 1/4 inches high x 15 1/2 inches x 1/2 inch depth; Sight: 6 3/4 inches x 11 inches wide

The earliest China Trade pictures were produced on both Chinese and European paper; "Beginning in the 1780s, the Chinese artists used western paper for most of their watercolors for the export trade... Supplying the Chinese with the raw materials for a product that was to be sold in the West was not unusual, since it occurred in many fields of manufacture. The other paper commonly used for watercolors and gouaches after 1800 or 1810, was pith, which has been mistakenly called 'rice' paper, both at that time and today...' The so-called rice paper is made of the pith of the Aralia papyrifera. less