Page 99 - Made For Trade Chinese Export Paintings In Dutch Collections

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and bleaching the paper, as Clunas describes in
Chinese Export Watercolours, which made the
paper very smooth; this, in turn, best reflected
the colours. Sometimes, this mix with alum was
applied seven or eight times. The next step in the
process was establishing the outline. The paper
was laid on a model of the scene to be painted;
the transparent paper allowed the figure, tree,
bird, boat, etc., to be outlined with black paint
or with a silver or metal needle (silverpoint-
technique). Once this part of the process was
completed, the colour pigments were prepared.
These were always densily opaque and were
carefully mixed with water, alum and glue. By
dripping water or sprinkling powder onto the
drying paint, the painter enhanced the illusion of
three-dimensionality through texture and tonal
graduation, as wel as merging the contour line
with the colour pigment. 156
Besides watercolours on pith paper, many of
the watercolours in the Dutch collections are
executed on Chinese xuan paper, renowned for
being soft and fine textured, or thin bamboo
paper, sometimes also first sized with alum and
animal glue and, after drying, brushed with a
lead white (lead sulphide) ground, before
preparing the outline.
Downing, an important eyewitness in the
1830s, who regularly visited Lamqua’s studio
and recorded the painting process extensively,
describes the artist’s tools as including, among
other things, a small stove that kept the glue
warm. Once the colours were ready, the artist
Fig. 3.24. Street scene further that “[C]ommonly, a pith paper painting applied the colours, just like in oil painting, in
with acrobat troupe, is mounted in the following way: After images layers. Often, when depicting skin, the pigment
gouache on paper, are painted on the pith paper (which may be was applied to the back of the painting, in order
19th century, done on both sides of the pith), paste is applied to achieve the effect of transparency, as if
23 x 18.5 cm, at the back of the four corners and the painting painting on ivory: “where flesh is to be
Museum Volkenkunde/ is lined with a sheet of paper. Four strips of represented, the pigment is put on on the reverse
Nationaal Museum van textile (usually silk) are pasted around the image side of the picture, so as to produce that
Wereldculturen, to form a frame. The mounted pith painting is beautiful effect of transparency practised with
inv.no. 7082-S-451-1611. then bound into an album.” 154 such success by our miniature painters on
Before a watercolour was painted on pith ivory.” 157 This paper was then pasted onto
paper, the paper first had to be treated with a ordinary Chinese or European paper and
solution of alum. 155 This was done by planing ‘framed’ with a light-coloured silk ribbon.

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154 Ibid.
155 Downing 1838; facsimile, 1972, 114. Crossman 1991, 177.
156 Claypool, 2015, 37. Wan Qingli connects this process to the humid climate of Canton, where paint after
application easily degraded. Wan 2005, 148.
157 Downing 1838; facsimile, 1972, 99.
158 Museum Nusantara has been closed since January 2013. A part of its collection will return to Indonesia. This
painting (Figure 3.24) is appraised as valuable to be incorporated in the Collectie Nederland (amongst other Dutch
museums: Prinsenhof in Delft and Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden) currently belongs to the collection of Museum
Volkenkunde/National Museum of World Cultures. Emails of Nico Schaap, registrar of Prinsenhof Delft, 15 October
2015, and of Joke Leijfeldt, research associate Indonesia Museum Volkenkunde, 27 September 2016.