[CHINA] - Chinese album. 12 miniatures of types and costumes - Lot 19

[CHINA] - Chinese album. 12 miniatures of types and costumes of mandarins, women and children from Imperial China. Beautiful collection of 12 gouache paintings on rice paper. S.l., [circa1880]. Volume in-12 (160×123mm). Hardbound, covered with red silk finely decorated with floral motifs and a stylized fish on the first board, embellished with ties. 12 plates. Solid volume; silk pierced in places, notably at the spines. The rice paper has several small cracks and four drawings are missing fragments. This is a very fine suite, dating from the 1880s, depicting mandarins, women and children in traditional settings. Each miniature is mounted in a blue silk frame. These paintings were produced for the export market under British colonial rule. Visiting dignitaries and high-ranking officers acquired them as souvenirs of their travels. Note the extreme precision of execution.