A SET OF SIX CHINESE WATERCOLORS ON PAPER

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A SET OF SIX CHINESE WATERCOLORS ON PAPER
MID-18TH CENTURY

After Guiseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) from the Mottahedah Album of Foreigners and Minority Peoples of China, each depicting a foreigner, and mounted with Chinese inscription to one corner, within later giltwood frames 19½in. (49cm.) high, 16¼in. (41cm.) wide overall (6)

Provenance

Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, sold Sotheby's New York, 7-8 April 1988, lot 67

Literature

D. Howard and J. Ayers, China for the West, 1978, vol.I, pp.23-31 (illustrated on cover and spine)

Lot Essay

Jesuit priest Giuseppe Castiglione (d.1766) arrived in China in 1715 and became court painter to the Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong, rendering portraits, military conquests, and architectural plans for palace buildings and gardens. Primarily painting on silk, he was known for his distinctive style that was a mixture of Eastern and Western traditions and techniques (C. and M. Beurdeley, Giuseppe Castiglione, 1971). A budding fascination with the West is revealed in these portraits of Westerners originally comprising part of a two-album set.