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M A L L E T T LO N D O N
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N E W YO R K
A SET OF TEN CHINA TRADE PICTURES A particularly fine set of ten Chinese gouaches on pith paper paintings illustrating the production of tea. China, circa 1800 Height: 39.5cm/15½in Width: 49cm/19½in
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P3B0346
The tradition of Chinese watercolour and gouache was one firmly rooted in the export market, where scenes of westerners and western-bound goods were very common, and the finest became some of the most sought after items of the export trade. Particularly in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, watercolours depicting porcelain, silk, rice and especially tea production were often put together in sets of individual sheets. The present set of ten sheets follow this tradition firmly, the quality and exceptional attention to detail reaffirming the astonishing importance of tea to both China and the west.
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