A CHINESE EXPORT REVERSE MIRROR PAINTING
A CHINESE EXPORT REVERSE MIRROR PAINTING

LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details
A CHINESE EXPORT REVERSE MIRROR PAINTING
Late 18th Century
Rectangular, depicting seated Chinese figures at leisure, one with a mandolin, before a riverscape with pavilions and rocky hills beyond, within a Regency black and gilt-japanned frame decorated with pavilions and floral sprays
28in. (72.5cm.) high, 46in. (117cm.) wide
Provenance
Major-General Sir George Burns, K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C., North Mymms Park, Hertfordshire, sold Christie's on the premises, 24-25 September 1979, lot 70

Lot Essay

The importation of Chinese paintings on glass and mirror, brilliantly colored and appropriate for 'cabinets of the curious', contributed to the European fascination with the Chinese taste in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. While some of these pictures were based on European prints (see lots 341-434), many depicted Chinese figures at leisure within exotic landscapes. The figural group in the foreground of this painting appears in the same formation on another mirror painting illustrated in M.Jourdain and R.S.Jenyns, Chinese Export Art in the Eighteenth Century, rev.edn., Norwich, 1967, p.104, pl.61.

Similar Chinese black and gilt lacquer frames appear on a pair of paintings sold Christie's London, 12 July 1990, lot 33, and a single painting sold Sotheby's London, 14 February 1992, lot 52.