JIU SHI FU HUA CHUN ZHEN GUSHI CE ZHI CEZI ERSHI FU: STORY BOOK OF 20 PAINTINGS

[China, ca.1780].Old brocade silk, cover size 27 x 28.5 cm., painting size 24.5 x 26 cm., 19 fine color paintings,mounted in an album, silk borders, left page shows 19 texts opposite paintings, mended, solid, obscure Qing dynasty work.* RARE * . *** **** *** . . . WITH 20 SUPERBLY EXECUTED COLOR PAINTINGS . . . SHOWS THE PALACE MINISTERS, LADIES & SERVANTS . . ORIGINAL QING PERIOD COLOR PAINTED ALBUM . . . DELICATELY PAINTED WITH A FINE & STEADY HAND . . . TYPICAL LITERATI & SCHOLARLY ARTISTIC WORK . * Ming Dynasty Qiu Ying "Character Story Book -Blowing the Flute and Attracting the Phoenix" . *** THE GENRE: Qiu Ying (1494-1552), courtesy name Shifu and nickname Shizhou, was a Chinese painting master of the Ming Dynasty. Qiu was taught by Zhou Chen . He is good at drawing figures, especially ladies. He is not only good at color setting, but also good at ink and wash and line drawing. . Together with Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming and Tang Yin, they are called the "Four Masters of Ming Dynasty". right or left corners. . *** This is a lovely album, containing twenty fine color paintings. Each painting has a cinnabar seal/chop, there are two variant chops. The first has the seal of the artist: "FU Jiu ei" found on plate number 11. The balance all have the same unidentified cinnabar-red Yinpu [Yinzhang] seal/chop located either in the lower . . In Xu Qin’s "Mingshulu" of the Qing Dynasty commented on his paintings of ladies as "hair emerald and golden, silky and silky, elegant and gorgeous." . Together with Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming and Tang Yin, they are called the "Four Masters of Ming Dynasty". . In this small album, the artist concentrated on the luxurious life of the imperial concubine in the court through the theme of makeup, which shows Qiu Ying's superb artistic generalization ability. Many details of this historical storybook are also based on certain historical books and have a certain degree of authenticity. The women's faces portrayed in the work are full and round, the lines are thin and smooth, and the colors are bright and harmonious. It has the obvious style characteristics of "Tang costume" paintings of ladies. . This work full of the taste of court life in the Tang Dynasty. Qiu Ying's success in imitating ancient times was discussed. . *** The story book begins with the first illustration, all of which are on the right side of the pages, followed by the text which is opposite of each painting on the left hand side of the page, in traditional Chinese style. . from Qiu Ying's masterpiece "Character Story Book.". Based onn Ming dynasty, Qiu Ying "Characters ministers and includes Concubine Xiaozhuang." . It depicts the story of Concubine Yang in the Tang Dynasty dressing up in the morning. Concubine Yang is the most favored concubine of Tang Xuanzong. . *** THE COVER BINDINGS: . The book is bound in original silk brocade and was the later mended with another gold cloth on all edges and spine. The original title slip is preserved with a minor loss to the first character Jiu [number 9],the balance are written in Classical Chinese. . * INSIDE BACK COVER TITLE: This appears to have been written sometime after the work was painted, it has a discrepancy between what the artist signed on plate 11 vs. what the title slip states. Regardless, it states: Pinyin: Chóu baofù huà junchén gù bao cèzi Artist's name: Chou Baofu Title: ALBUM OF [19 Views of] TREASURED PAINTINGS . * THE INTERNAL MOUNTING: Each painting is laid down with gold color silk borders. The book opens from right to left in a "butterfly" style page format. The book is bound in the traditional Chinese accordion-folded format on stiff pages. Backs blank & clean. Hinges solid, and or reinforced, now firm and solid. . * STUNNING BEAUTY OF THE COLOR PAINTINGS: Each painting is finely painted with a very steady hand and thin brush, yielding the highest quality, intricate paintings with lovely vegetal and mineral based colors used. . *** Color photos are posted to our website. Please review for additional information. . *** CONDITION OF THE PAINTINGS: . By and large each painting is in excellent condition, with strong color and no damage. There are two paintings that have what appears to be a bit of small burn. not a major distraction. . The original album has the old brocade covers, with a border on all four sides of a later gold color cloth to enforce the edges. The original title slip attached, rubbed, soiled but present. . * .