China - Lot 401

Lot 401
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Estimation :
800 - 1200 EUR
China - Lot 401
China [CHINA - CURIOSA - EROTICA] Album XIXth (c. 1850) containing a rare suite of 10 gouache paintings of erotic scenes on rice paper. 10 rice sheets of scenes in colors mounted on paper, blue paper border in frame. Small cracks and missing. Size 17,5x25 cm. Cardboard covered with red printed silk, small missing, closure by small laces. The name "rice paper" still in use today, was given in the 19th century to a material unknown in the West at the time, and which is not strictly speaking paper. It is the spongy sap of a shrub native to southeast China, the tetrapanax papyrifera, which is unrolled by deftly cutting it with a blade after removing the bark, to obtain a soft and translucent support. The very particular texture of the support made the pigments very velvety, and the colors very intense. Series on "Chinese life" were elaborated to answer the strong Western demand.
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