Chinese Framed Water Color of a Man and Woman

Magnificent Chinese scroll ancestor painting showing patriarch and matriarch of a high ranking status civil official. This unusual scroll depicts the dignitary couple seated below a ...

Seasonal autumn Chinese hanging scroll painting depicting colorful Camellias with a calligraphy signature and date. Crafted on hand-made mulberry paper wi...

Large Chinese hanging scroll having a pair of poetic couplets with a cyclical date autumn 1944/2004 Jishen and signed Zhang with 2 seals. The sight mea...

Fascinating 19th century Japanese late Edo period six pane funpon screen. Large scale depicting Chinese scholars and officials engaged in leis...

Framed Chinese water color of riverside village with boat with one artist seal. Overall size: 19.5 width, 26" high Image size: 14 1/4" width, 20" ...

With exquisite detail and sparkling color, this portrait of a young woman is a remarkable example of reverse glass painting. Lending the finished work a subtle three-dimensional effe...

This Chinese portrait depicts a young woman and was painted using a reverse glass painting technique. Painting in reverse on the opposite side of a piece of glass meant the painter h...

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...