CHINESE SCHOOL, AN INTERIOR SCENE OF DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY |

oil on canvas, depicting a scene of an idealized family, a father smoking a pipe listening to his son reading, while in the next room the wife and daughter tenderly caring for the younger brother, happily watching a pair of ducks paddling in the inner courtyard pond below, original zitan frame carved with bats amid clouds and later gilt

Collection of Thomas E. Kirby (1846-1924), New York (by repute).

The painting with two small repaired losses one in the center of the folding screen, the other in one lower corner. There is extensive crackling overall with some associated minor losses, the longest crack to the painted surface running from the hand of the woman traveling down towards the base. The frame with some shrinkage causing gaps to the joints at the corners and mid section to either short side and there is loss and wear to the gilt.
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