Wason Collection of Chinese export watercolors., 1790-1900Undated
Collection Number: 4500
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Wason Collection of Chinese export watercolors., 1790-1900 Undated
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
4500
Abstract:
A collection of early Chinese export watercolors including "Street Trades," on paper
with J. Whatman watermark, similar in format and subject to those published in an
1800 British work by George Mason, also including children's toys, boats, mandarins,
butterflies, and Chinese scenes probably ca. 1790.
Creator:
Quanitities:
8.4 cubic feet.
Language:
Collection material in English
Chinese export watercolors were painted in the port cities of China for sale to western
customers in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Works were done in watercolor or gouache,
initially on European papers, particularly paper produced by the English firm of J.
Whatman, but later on pith"paper," produced from the pith of the Chinese plant tongcao
(generally identified as Tetrapanax papyrifera). Many of the watercolors were done
in sets such as trades, domestic interiors and gardens, boats, birds, mandarins, punishments,
etc. Particularly popular were sets illustrating tea culture, the silk industry, and
the making of porcelain since they explained the products that were being sent to
the west. The watercolors were painted in workshops, using mass production techniques,
so that there may be more than one version of the same "original." The colors used
were those common in Chinese painting, but there is a clear tendency for primary colors
to predominate later in the 19th century, particularly on the pith paper paintings.
They may have originally been sold in loose paper bindings, but were frequently rebound
in Europe in more elaborate leather bindings.
A collection of early Chinese export watercolors including "Street Trades," on paper
with J. Whatman watermark, similar in format and subject to those published in an
1800 British work by George Mason, and also including children's toys, boats, mandarins,
butterflies, and Chinese scenes probably ca. 1790; a small bound volume of "Illustrations
of China," also similar in style and subject to the Mason engravings; a set of 24
watercolors on "The Culture of Tea & Silk;" a set of later watercolors on pith paper
illustrating birds, boats, fruits, flowers, punishments, people, and court life in
the 1850s, probably late 19th century; and individual volumes of street signs by Chou
Chi-ming and Chou Pei-ch'un, paintings of Chinese robes illustrating rank by Chou
Chi-ming, and paintings of Peking street scenes by Wang Yüan-hsün.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Chinese Export Watercolors, #4500. Wason Collection on East Asia, Cornell University
Library.
Places:
China -- Industries -- 1644-1912.
China -- Social life and customs -- 1644-1912.
China -- Description and travel -- Views -- To 1900.
Subjects:
China trade art.
China trade watercolor painting.
CONTAINER LIST
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
|
Series 1: Early Chinese Export Watercolors
|
|||
| Box 1 |
Occupations (8 items)
|
||
| Box 2 |
Boats (0-10, #1 missing) (10 items)
|
||
| Box 3 |
Boats (11-20) (10 items)
|
||
| Box 4 |
Boats (21-27, #24 missing) (6 items)
|
||
| Box 5 |
Toys (1-14) (14 items)
|
||
| Box 5 |
Mandarins (11 items)
|
||
| Box 6 |
Childhood, Education, and Marriage (captioned, #2-12) (11 items)
|
||
| Box 6 |
Butterflies, Insects, etc. (10 items)
|
||
|
Series 2: "Illustrations of China: Depicting Their Amusements, Commerce, Industries,
Manners and Customs, Punishments, etc."
|
|||
| Box 7 |
"Illustrations of China" (volume) (1 item)
|
||
|
Series 3: "China - Culture of Tea and Silk"
|
|||
| Box 8 |
Culture of Tea (8 items)
|
||
| Box 9 |
Culture of Tea (4 items)
|
||
| Box 9 |
Culture of Silk (5 items)
|
||
| Box 10 |
Culture of Silk (7 items)
|
||
| Box 10 |
Cover of original volume
|
||
|
Series 4: Later Chinese Export Watercolors (on pith "paper")
|
|||
| Box 11 |
Birds (5 items)
|
||
| Box 11 |
Boats (3 items)
|
||
| Box 12 |
Fruits (4 items)
|
||
| Box 12 |
Flowers (4 items)
|
||
| Box 13 |
People (9 items)
|
||
| Box 14 |
Punishments (12 items)
|
||
| Box 15 |
Court Life, 1850 (12 items)
|
||
|
Series 5: Chou Pei-ch'un
|
|||
| Box 16 |
Chinese Shop Signs (volume) (1 item)
|
||
| Box 16 |
Chinese Pantheon (volume) (1 item)
|
||
| Box 20 |
Women's hair styles (15 items)
|
||
|
Series 6: Chou Chi-ming
|
|||
| Box 17 |
Chinese Shop Signs (volume) (1 item)
|
||
| Box 18 |
Paintings of Chinese robes by rank (volume) (1 item)
|
||
|
Series 7: Wang Yüan-hsün
|
|||
| Box 19 |
Peking Customs (10 items)
|
||