Page 60 - Christie's London China Trade Paintings Kelton Collection

*38
CHINESE SCHOOL, CIRCA 1820
Silk production – a set of twelve
bodycolour and gold paint on silk laid down on paper
each 19º x 23Ωin. (48.8 x 59.7cm.) including margins (12)
£40,000-60,000 US$50,000-74,000
€46,000-68,000
PROVENANCE:
Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 15 Oct. 1986, lot 54.

For these early series of paintings illustrating tea, silk and porcelain production, see the note to the previous lot. Silk was, with tea
and porcelain, one of the main Chinese exports. It had been exported as early as the late 13th and early 14th centuries, as well as
being one of the staples of the Canton export trade in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Chinese artists traditionally painted in watercolour, bodycolour and tempera on silk, and produced the frst export views of
Canton and the Pearl River on silk in the 1750s and 1760s, before they began to work on stocks of imported papers. These were
more often than not Whatman paper from Kent, more resilient a support than silk (and Whatman's wove papers particularly suited
to the humid airs of southern China). The Cantonese artists added oils on canvas to their repertoire from around the 1770s, as the
supply of western materials, and demand for paintings, grew.

58 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.