Page 99 - Chinese Art Paris Auction Christie's December 2017

PROVENANCE
Previously in a private collection of a European collector who worked
in the railway and salt industry in Qingdao in the early 20th century,
acquired in Beijing between 1907-1908.

This magnifcent 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
afixed to rare books and fne 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.

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