Qing Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Spring Rain - Vertical Chinese Landscape with Waterfalls and Mountains Idyllic landscape with a massive waterfall by an unknown artist (20th ...

A pillow book was meant to teach a young bride about the art of lovemaking. This rare museum-quality 19th century example is composed of 12 masterfully pai...

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...

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...

With careful brushwork, this 19th-century painting honors the four treasures of the scholar's studio - paper, calligraphy brush, ink, and inkstone. Essential to his way of life, the ...

Despite its explicit content, this intimate scene conveys a sense of tenderness and romantic love characteristic of Chinese erotic art. Known as “sp...

Despite its explicit content, this intimate scene conveys a sense of tenderness and romantic love characteristic of Chinese erotic art. Known as “sp...

Despite its explicit content, this intimate scene conveys a sense of tenderness and romantic love characteristic of Chinese erotic art. Known as “sp...

Despite its explicit content, this intimate scene conveys a sense of tenderness and romantic love characteristic of Chinese erotic art. Known as “sp...

Drawn with a fine line and fresh, sketched quality, this folk hanging unites two scenes of lucky hoho lotus boys circumscribed in frames punctuated with fruits such as pomegranate, symbolic of prosperity and good fortune. On top, the two explore the natural wonders of the world...

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

A scroll and a small lantern depicted in this 19th-century painting suggest the romantic notion of a Chinese scholar painting in the evening hours. Re...

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...