Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of The China Trade (Woodbridge: 1991)
A set of twelve vibrant and well executed gouache on pith paper studies of exotic birds, by the ‘celebrated’ Chinese painter Youqua, the set including depictions of birds plants and shrubs.
Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there was extraordinary demand in England, Europe and America for Chinese-made goods. The first half of the nineteenth century, when these pictures were created, was perhaps the height of the trade between China and the West, centred on Canton, which met this demand. During this period export laws were at their least restrictive and the greatest volume of goods was exchanged. It was also an apogee of workmanship and quality, which was to decline from the 1860s.
During this time works on pith paper such as these were hugely popular amongst travellers and traders in Canton. A reference made in 1835 referred to as many as thirty shops in the vicinity of the hongs (factories) where watercolours on pith paper could be purchased. Traders, captains and merchants purchased albums for themselves or as presents for family and friends to furnish their homes in the West. Representing the trades, occupations, life and court ceremonies, religions, pastimes and customs of the Chinese, for Westerners they provided a fascinating glimpse into the life and world, that defied verbal explanation, of these foreign people and their mysterious, far away land.
This set of twelve works depicts various exotic birds in different landscapes of rock and flora. They were produced by the finest studio of the mid nineteenth century, that of the ‘celebrated’ Chinese painter Youqua, master of various media such as gouache, watercolour and oil. He is renowned for producing some of the finest quality painting of varying Chinese scenes. This set of 12 retains his galleries label.
The quality of painting on this set is particularly high, even for the high standards set by Youqua. The detail is on a anatomical level. The condition is also very good, with the colours remaining vibrant and there being little damage to the notoriously delicate and brittle pith paper.