19TH CENTURY, CHINESE SCHOOL, QING DYNASTY., ‘ANCESTOR WORSHIP’.,

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Start price 2.000 €

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Lot description

Depiction of a high-ranking Imperial official and his wife, probably from the reign of Emperor Xianfeng (1850 - 1861) of the Qing dynasty.
The official is dressed in formal costume with a hat and a leather-lined tunic. The wife is depicted wearing an elaborate rooster headdress and a red-bottomed dragon robe, all of which are insignia of rank. Each figure is seated on a lacquered wood chair with mother-of-pearl inlays covered with tiger fur on a rug with depictions of Manchurian cranes and geometric and floral motifs.
Ancestor memorial portraits became popular in the late Ming and Qing dynasties and were believed to house the spirits of the deceased. As such, they were commissioned by families and at certain rituals during the year they were displayed and revered with the greatest respect.
Traditionally, this kind of portraits were presented as hanging scrolls in which the figures were depicted seated facing each other in compositions whose symmetry was reinforced in every detail, thus visually connecting the two portraits.
As can be seen in this work, realism was crucial in the depiction of the faces, but not in the depiction of the surroundings, as it was intended to reflect the fact that the ancestors were no longer in the physical world.174 x 120 cm. (marco).

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