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Lot Essay
Qing court painting of palace ladies and gentlewomen in general, although not always, was the work of anonymous artists, and was mostly executed in the gongbi zhongcai technique (fine line/heavy colours), very much suited to express the detailed refinement of dress, interior and decoration, as illustrated in this lot.
Another example of this painting can be found in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Beijing, in the Yongzheng shi'er fei xingle tu (The Yongzheng Emperor's Twelve Concubines). Remarkable is the fact that the lady depicted here, is portrayed in typical Ming dynasty court attire, like all the others in the series. Although the Qing Court imposed a strict observation of the sobre Manchu dress code for court women, it adhered to the artistic demands of the painting genre to emulate feminine beauty and elegance.
For a discussion on and full illustration of Yongzheng shi'er fei xingle tu, which is also called Yuanming yuan shi'er mei ren (Twelve Beauties in the Yuanmingyuan), see the Gugong wenwu: The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, Issue 148, pp.10-17, July 1995. Also see "Gentlewomen Paintings of the Qing Palace Ateliers", by Shan Guoqiang in Orientations, Vol.26, no.7, pp.56-59, July/August 1995. For the complete series, see "Early Qing Furniture in a set of Qing Dynasty Court Paintings" by Tian Jiaqing in Orientations, Vol.24, no.1, pp.32-40, January 1993.
Another example of this painting can be found in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Beijing, in the Yongzheng shi'er fei xingle tu (The Yongzheng Emperor's Twelve Concubines). Remarkable is the fact that the lady depicted here, is portrayed in typical Ming dynasty court attire, like all the others in the series. Although the Qing Court imposed a strict observation of the sobre Manchu dress code for court women, it adhered to the artistic demands of the painting genre to emulate feminine beauty and elegance.
For a discussion on and full illustration of Yongzheng shi'er fei xingle tu, which is also called Yuanming yuan shi'er mei ren (Twelve Beauties in the Yuanmingyuan), see the Gugong wenwu: The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, Issue 148, pp.10-17, July 1995. Also see "Gentlewomen Paintings of the Qing Palace Ateliers", by Shan Guoqiang in Orientations, Vol.26, no.7, pp.56-59, July/August 1995. For the complete series, see "Early Qing Furniture in a set of Qing Dynasty Court Paintings" by Tian Jiaqing in Orientations, Vol.24, no.1, pp.32-40, January 1993.