Author: [SUNQUA (attributed)].
Title: [Album with twelve Chinese pith paintings of court officials].[Guangzhou (Canton), before 1850]. Folio (ca. 34.5 x 24.5 cm). Gouache and gold on pith paper (ca. 26.5 x 17.5 cm), each drawing is mounted by its corners in an album of mulberry-bark(?) paper (ca. 34 x 24 cm) and framed with a light blue silk ribbon. Contemporary green silk brocade with a floral pattern, pink closing ties.
Description: [12] ll.Album with twelve beautifully executed Chinese pith paintings, which show the emperor, the empress, and three court officials. The artworks have a consistent style and were clearly all made by the same artist and produced as a series. They are quite large, as the leaves are close to the maximum size that pith paper could be produced in (ca. 30 x 20 cm). The figures, and especially their clothes, have been painted with incredible detail. Due to the fact that the paintings have been mounted in an album, they have kept their vibrant colours, as well as their characteristic three-dimensional quality and velvety texture.Chinese artists seem to have begun making coloured gouache drawings on pith paper in the 1820s, but the genre flourished after China's defeat in the First Opium War (1839-1842) opened the country to foreign trade. Most were produced in the port city Guangzhou (Canton province), where the leading artists Sunqua (fl. 1830-1870) and Tingqua, also known as Guam Lianchang (ca. 1809-1870 or soon after) established their studios. They mixed Chinese and Western styles and catered largely to the new export market. Although six other studios have been identified, Sunqua and Tingqua’s studios certainly produced a large percentage of the better quality work. Unfortunately, since pith-paper drawings were rarely signed, few can be attributed to an artist or studio based on documentary evidence. They are most easily identified by a label that is sometimes mounted on the front pastedown of the albums, but is not present here. However, floral silk brocade bindings were apparently typical for Sunqua's studio. We have found other albums with the exact same binding that did come with the Sunqua label. As such, the present paintings can tentatively be attributed to Sunqua's studio. The present album was acquired by Danish Consul Ferdinand Wolff (1814-1893) in 1850. Wolff worked in Manila from 1837 to 1849 and brought the album to Denmark on his way back home.With a Danish annotation ("Hjembragt af Konsul Ferdinand Wolff i 1850" [= Brought home by Consul Ferdinand Wolff in 1850]) on the front pastedown. The corners of the boards are somewhat scuffed, with a vertical tear in the silk at the foot of the spine, the ties have likely been replaced. Most leaves are slightly creased and chipped in the lower margin, all pith paper leaves have small tears and holes around the edges, but never touching the painted image, the work is very lightly foxed throughout. Otherwise in very good condition.l Cf. Williams, I., “Views from the West”, in: Arts of Asia XXXI (2001), pp. 140-149; Williams, I., “Painters on pith”, in: Arts of Asia XXXIII (2003), pp. 56-66.

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