Bidamount News April 24, 2026, Vol 627
A souvenir from China
China Trade Paintings...
A souvenir from China
Chinese export paintings: testimonies of global trade
Publicado el 29 de julio de 2021 por Julien Ménabréaz (Photoconsortium)
880 vistas
When travelling abroad you might buy some local gifts for your relatives, friends and yourself. But did you know that Chinese craftsmen produced a special kind of souvenir for Westerners over two centuries ago?
In the 18th century, the Chinese empire was an isolationist, closed-off country. Only the port of Canton (Guangzhou), on the south coast, was open to foreign merchants. There, the Western trade companies from France, England, the Netherlands and Sweden bought goods like silk, porcelain and tea.
Isolated from the continent, Western merchants had to live and conduct their business only in the area of the port of Canton, on an island called the 13 Factories. This place was the only « window » for merchants to get a view of China. Luckily, they could also virtually visit China through a particular type of art, known as the Chinese export paintings or Chinese pith paintings.
The mass-produced paintings were exclusively made for foreigners. Most of them were brushed on pith paper: a cheap, spongy material made with the earth of a shrub native from southern China. Because of the nature of the paper, the paintings were very fragile.
Most of these paintings were made by a team in a studio. Painters used watercolour or gouache (oil paintings were less common), producing vividly colourful impressions of China. Another technique used was glass reverse painting, showing Chinese or sometimes European subjects. Glass reverse painting is a delicate and difficult art, which consists of applying paint to a piece of glass. To see the painting in its full glory, the glass needs to be reversed.
Because these export paintings were generally made by craftsmen and not artists, they weren’t considered to be an art form by the Chinese, unlike calligraphy or ink paintings. This may be the cause for it taking such a long time before Chinese export paintings became a serious object of historical and artistic study.
Trade in Chinese export paintings proved very lucrative, as they were cheap to produce and easy to transport. Sold alone or in an album, the range of subjects went from flowers, animals and landscapes, to scenes of daily life and processes of manufacturing products like tea or silk. These depictions gave foreigners a taste of China and answered to the European taste for exoticism.
Having a painting from a Chinese studio became very fashionable in Europe. Some studios and their owners - such as Tingua, Youqua, Sunqua and Puqua - became famous. Western newspapers advertised where to find the best painters. In the 19th century, after the two opium wars, more ports in cities like Shanghai and Hong Kong opened to foreign merchants and new painting studios opened there as well. You could even find Chinese export painting studios in neighbouring Asian countries and colonial establishments like Manilla, Batavia (today’s Jakarta), Surat or Ceylon (today’s Sri Lanka).
With the development of photography, Chinese export painting became less popular. Some manufacturers followed the market and opened what would become the first Chinese photograph studios. Others started copying photographed portraits to paintings.
Some of the export paintings that ended up in Europe today form a magnificent testimony of the exchange between and mutual perceptions of Europe and China. They're also a fitting illustration of the history of global trade, more than a century before the start of post-industrial globalisation.
Tof Vogue.
Hand Made and Handheld..Exhibit and Catalog
The catalog of the pieces for the above exhibit can be seen in this catalog. Made available through Arts Of Asia magazine. CLICK HERE TO ORDER
Note: I have already bought this catalog, it is a very good reference on the topic, an essential I think if you are a collector. Best Peter
If You'd Like What We Do
Please consider joining the BIDAMOUNT Community by becoming a PATREON or Global Member Subscriber and help support this site and our YouTube Channel.
Thank you very much. Peter
$5 Per Month
$ 4 Per Month
&
Extra Video's.
Weekly YouTube Video's "AD FREE"
Auction House Report Card
FREE Weekly Copies Of The Antiques Gazette down loadable to your device.
Posts of Interest: News, Events etc.
Downloadable Books and Catalogs. All for $5 a month.
For the extra dollar a Month I think the Patreon Membership gives more bang for the buck.. Both support the YouTube Channel and maintain this site. ..
Weekly handpicked auction lost in the USA and Abroad as well as access to the AUCTIONEER Report Card, over 450 Auction Houses Graded A to F with comments. $4 a month.
This Week's Videos
A few items we think are nice.
Live Auctioneers....A few things you might like!
A small sample of things from the Global Member Pages and through PATREON, Join Today on the HOME PAGE
Build YOUR Library: Reference Book Suggestions
For More Reference Books, Visit Our Bookshop. CLICK HERE
