CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, XVIIIEME-XIXEME SIECLE

This magnificent handscroll depicts a vivid and a festive continuous scene of a temple fair. The length, the high quality of the details and the presence of the Qianlong emperor 's seal all suggest that it was an an imperial painting. The current seal reads Taishang Huangdi Zhi Bao ('Treasure of Emperor Emeritus') and was frequently affixed to rare books and fine ancient or contemporary paintings and calligraphic works kept by the Imperial Household Department, as well as being used on Qianlong's own works.
Compare to an imperial handscroll of 17 meters, '10,000 tablets of an Imperial Audience', depicting a scene of Emperor Qianlong passing through Suzhou to Jiangnan, in the collection of the Tianjin Museum.