Unknown

Chinese Lunar New Year Painted Scroll

circa 1900

Believing that the departed continue to hold influence over the lives of the living, many Chinese households honor their ancestors in private family rituals, invoking their spirits for long life, health, and prosperity. Commemorative portraits, which came into vogue in the late Ming and Qing dynasties, were commissioned specifically for ancestor worship and were believed to house the spirits of the deceased. When properly cared for, one's ancestors were believed to be a powerful source of honor, protection, and good luck. This pair of ancestor portraits was hand-painted in the 19th century and beautifully depicts a Qing-dynasty couple. While some ancestral portraits offer a more stylized representation of one's ancestors, this particular pair is painted with incredible realism and life-like expressions. Rather than depict the pair in a regal hall wearing elaborate finery, the couple is shown in a quiet home environment, seated at either end of a square tea table. Their surroundings are minimal, practically undecorated, and they wear simple, matching blue silk robes...

Since the 12th century, people in China have used folding screens and doors to partition and decorate their homes - the vivid scenes backing the screens added life and color to a room. This 19th-century painting is delicately brushed of gouache and ink on fabric and was originally part of a set of eight backing a wooden screen in northern China. The figure depicted is one of the mythical Eight Immortals of Taoism. Said to have attained immortality through their studies of the natural world, each of the Eight Immortals represents a different condition in life and together they impart a blessing of prosperity and longevity. Depicted here is immortal Lan Caihe, the patron saint of florists and gardeners. Standing atop a lotus leaf in open water, they hold a gardening hoe in one hand and a basket for flowers...

Exquisitely painted with delicate line work and a subdued color palette, this Chinese scroll painting is an early 20th century reproduction of a famous...

Despite its explicit content, this intimate scene conveys a sense of tenderness and romantic love characteristic of Chinese erotic art. Known as “spring palace paintings,” these ink and watercolor illustrations imagined the sensual delights of courtly life. Taken from an album of erotic paintings, this framed leaf departs from a tradition of depicting lovers in risqué outdoor settings by picturing an amorous coupling in a distinctly Qing-dynasty interior. The uniquely detailed surroundings shed light on the prevailing aesthetic tastes in decor and furniture of 19th-century China. Note the carved wooden headrest, blue and white censer...

Washington DC is a beautiful original pigment ink illustration, created by Ed Fairburn on a medium of an antique 1800s map, depicting a woman drawn through the streets and topography gazing to the east. Artist Biography: Born 15th November 1989 in Southampton, UK. Ed Fairburn is an English artist whose ability to combine the geography of our facial features with the geography of the earth leads to a startling and compelling synthesis of the two. Fairburn has become known in Europe for his evocative portraits, which produce complex human features from the apparently random patterns found in mundane topographical and astrological maps...

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (Montauban 1780 – Paris 1867) Apelles holding his palette and brushes Late reinterpretation after The Apotheosis of Homer – c. 1860 Black chalk, stump...

Delphin Enjolras (1865 - 1945) Portrait Of Louis Valayer, Mayor Of Avignon From 1910 To 1919 Pastel on paper Signed and dated top right : D. Enjolras 1899 Framed Friend of the ...

Watermark: the arms of Amsterdam Provenance: Christie’s, Amsterdam, 1 December 1986, lot 46; where acquired by: Private Collection, New York Literature: Roger Adolf d’Hulst, “Jordaens Drawings: Supplement II,” Master Drawings, vol. 28, no. 2 (1990), pp. 153-156, no. A237a, fig. 17. Matías Díaz Padrón, Jacob Jordaens...