AN IMPERIAL SCHOOL INK AND COLOUR ON SILK 'COURT LADY AND BOY' PAINTING QING DYNASTY, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

ink and colour on silk, delicately painted with a Manchu court lady elegantly seated and dressed in the unofficial Manchu changfu robe intricately embellished with the eight medallion design, the lady playing the qin (zither) whilst looking behind her at her son depicted  holding a peony blossom and skipping cheerfully, framed

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th April 2010, lot 1826.

The subject of a Manchu court lady dressed in the unofficial Manchu changfu robe with the eight medallion design, seated playing a qin, evokes culture, taste, refinement and scholarly accomplishment - all the characteristics male scholars would also strive to possess.  She is juxtaposed with a small boy holding a peony.  In addition to being an accomplished great beauty, she is also a mother of a son - her greatest achievement. 

Imperial School paintings of culturally sophisticated courtesan can be seen in Twelve Beauties at Leisure Painted for Prince Yinzhen, the Future Yongzheng Emperor, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in China: The Three Emperors, Royal Academy of Art, London, 2005, cat. no. 173.