China Trade Ancestor Portraits

A striking surrealist hand painted floor screen comprised of four canvas panels with profiles centering a "visage de faune" (faun's face), a...

Mixed-media work by artist Purvis Young. Acrylic on paper, plastic and white metal sign insert cover. Folk Art painted in black, white, pink, yellow, red and green. Work on found obj...

Abstract mixed-media work by artist Purvis Young. Folk Art portraying bleeding and pregnant figures in a crowd, policemen on horseback and large blue eyes. Young used eyes as symbols...

Oil on canvas by neo-expressionist Ecuadorian artist Roberto Noboa. Signed, titled and dated en verso by the artist. This artist has always separated hi...

This intricately detailed composition is a late-Qing dynasty ancestor portrait depicting several generations of a family's male ancestry. Or...

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 late-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. Two young children stand beside them, each trying to capture the attention of their grandparent. We love the painting's close attention to detail and the glimpse it offers of Qing-dynasty interiors - from the carved apron of the marble-top table to the red silk lotus slippers...

Qing Dynasty Chinese Ancestor painting. Antique Chinese Ancestor paintings are sought after for their warm colors and traditional pa...

A nice pair of Chinese ancestor family group portraits, 19th century, on paper, framed in teak frames under glass. Twelve characters total in per...