A SET OF FOUR CHINESE REVERSE GLASS PAINTINGS

18TH CENTURY

Each depicting two figures relaxing in a tranquil garden by a river, they play musical instruments, smoke opium and pick flowers, with birds, rockwork and blossoming trees around them, their elegant garments finely detailed with gilt decoration, with boats and dwellings on the riverbank in the distance, each picture contained within a frame, 30cm x 45cm. (4)

Provenance: from an English private collection, Kent.

Cf. D S Howard, A Tale of Three Cities: Canton, Shanghai & Hong Kong, Three Centuries of Sino-British Trade in the Decorative Arts, p.151, no.194 for a related reverse glass painting of a figure holding a hawk in a similar river landscape.