Youqua (4 results)

Silk covered boards. Condition: Very good overall. 24 large and intricate paintings of Chinese nobility dressed in their finery. This album bears the red stamp with border for "Youqua Painter, Old Street, No. 34" affixed to the inside cover. Leaves mounted with pale turquoise silk ribbon to paper leaves. The album size 33.2 x 24.8cm (13 x 9 3/4") and stands as a quarto volume. Bound in dark blue silk with medallions in red, gold and green trellis design. The binding is cracked on the spine but holding, rubbed edges and corners with the remants of silk ties. While some plates have some damage around the edge, all the coats and gowns are in fine condition and brilliant full color. A red stamp with border for "Youqua Painter, Old Street, No. 34" affixed to the inside cover. Western binding opening from the right.

Finely executed portraits of women and their musical instruments, larger and more detailed than many other albums. From the school of Youqua. The portraits have no background painting. 8 images mounted with dark turquoise border silk (some with cracks); 3 images are mounted on card at a later date. All images loose in papered boards which open Western style and are disbound and very rubbed. Most images are in lovely and larger than most. Besides some small cracks, they are in very good condition. 4to, 11 1/2 x 8".

Album bound in patterned silk, 335 x 250 mm, some light wear, studio stamp ofYoueequa Painter Old Street No. 34 to preliminary blank, containing 12 original gouache paintings on pith paper, each lined with a silk border, a few chips and creases, but the colour vibrant containing a series of scenes including court officials, punishment and torture, and junks on the water. Housed in a fine custom morocco bound box by Aquarius lettered and ruled in gilt. The celebrated Chinese painter Youqua was active from the 1840s in Canton (34 Old Street) before later moving to Hong Kong where he opened a second studio at number 107 Queen's Road. Export paintings from his studios are considered some of the finest from the period.

A nice example of the Chinese export album industry: this set of vivid still lifes retains its original binding and bears the ticket of the illustrious painter Youqua on the verso of the front free endpaper. Intended for a Western market, such portfolios were a popular ware for either merchants or travellers to buy in port cities. The gouache or watercolour paintings were rendered on pith paper, which is incorrectly termed rice paper in contemporary accounts. The velvet-textured pith paper is well suited to water-based paints, which sit slightly above the surface and create an embossed effect. The paper was ideal for export, being inexpensive and light to carry. The workshop of the artist Youqua (fl. 1840-1870) was initially located in Canton, before he opened premises in Hong Kong. Alongside export albums, the studio also produced oil paintings on canvas, often depicting port scenes. Youqua's "superb" floral studies, such as those at hand, represent the finest work in this medium in the mid-19th century (Crossman, p. 202). Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, 1991. Oblong quarto (323 x 250 mm). With 10 original gouache paintings of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and leaves on pith paper, mounted under silk frames. Original patterned silk brocade over boards, green silk ties. Binding heavily worn, illustrations bright but leaves delicate: very good, requiring careful handling.