Chinese School | Album of watercolour drawings of plants, insects and fruit, nineteenth century

Chinese School

Album of watercolour drawings of plants, insects and fruit. China, nineteenth century

Folio (384 x 319mm.), 145 watercolour drawings of plants, insects and fruit, some with Chinese annotations, nineteenth-century tan half morocco, some minor worming and marginal paper loss, shaved at edges

An exceptional collection of very fine Chinese watercolours of flowers, plants, insects and fruits, with attractive bright colouring. Some are captioned in Chinese, presenting a cornucopia of botany for the the study and enjoyment of the viewer.

Winifred Bois was the daughter of Frederic William Bois, (1848-1921). Frederic was an amateur photographer who exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1900, and whose family had held a prominent place in the mercantile life of Ceylon since the 1860s. Winifred travelled extensively in the Far East. She collected Chinese school watercolours.

PROVENANCE:

Winifred Bois, bookplate (see also lots 295 and 366)