Canton School Taoist Warrior Deity Zhenwu

An original 18th-century gouache painting – Canton School, Taoist Warrior Deity Zhenwu.

This is one of an outstanding set of six Canton School gouache paintings on paper depicting Taoist deities and Qing Dynasty figures.

Beginning in the late 18th century, centred on the treaty port of Canton (Guangzhou), there existed a thriving trade in ethnographical watercolours executed by local Chinese artists and sold to western merchants and travellers.

These works typically depict Chinese traditional customs, occupations, manufacture and trades, boats, plants and animals, and they blend Chinese and European painting techniques, resulting in a unique mix of artistic styles.

This set of six gouache paintings are a particularly high quality example; five of the six are painted on very delicate paper, which was customary for paintings dating from the early period (late 18th and early 19th century), when works were particularly fine and specifically produced using the highest standards for wealthy Europeans. Later in the 19th century the paper was usually thicker, catering for a wider mass-market.

The figures depicted are unusually large when compared with works from the studio of Pu-Qua (active c.1750–1850). They also not to be standard 'stock' export paintings (repeated figures produced in multiples for the market) as they do not bring up any specific matches when cross-referenced with the extensive collection of Chinese export paintings in the V&A, London.

In gouache on very fine, thin laid paper.