ANTIQUE CHINESE HAND-TINTED PHOTOS OF FORBIDDEN CITY (02/16/2011)

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ANTIQUE CHINESE HAND-TINTED PHOTOS OF FORBIDDEN CITY

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ANTIQUE CHINESE HAND-TINTED PHOTOS OF FORBIDDEN CITY

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Sold Date: 02/16/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art

Set of twelve (12) antique printed hand-tinted photographs, perhaps lithographed, on heavy postcard-type paper. Based on what is described in the brief explanations stamped on the back of each printed card the subject of these prints is the Forbidden City, or former home of the Imperial Family in what was then called Pieqing or Pieping, now Beijing, China. During this period of Chinese history Beijing was not always the internationally-recognized capital of China, or even the capitol recognized by all Chinese. The city had been the Imperial capitol but with the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in 1911 and for the next decade and a half Beijing and much of northern China was ruled by a clique of warlords. For much of the rule of the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang - 1928-1949 - led by Chiang kai-shek, the capitol city was at Nanjing. Thus, the period during which these prints were made was a period of turmoil in Chinese history with wars, revolution, and foreign invasion commonplace. But more on the printed cards themselves: The ink used for the English language explanations on the reverse of each card is light on some cards and hard to read but based on that the following incomplete list of subjects is given: Front Door (Main Gate?) of the Forbidden City, The Coal Hill opposite the North Gate to the Forbidden City, The Marble Tablet of Chung-Shan Park, Something to do with a Canopy of the Temple of Heaven, Illegible, The Memorial Stone Gate off Main Street, Entrance to the Throne Hall, Throne Hall, The Nine-Dragon Screen in the Winter Palace, General View of the ____ Palace, Scene in Front of the Island in Winter Palace, The Coal were transported to Pieqing from the mining district in Western Hills by means of the camels. Each print or card measures 28mm X 9.2mm. Each print or card is apparently titled in Chinese at the front lower left corner on the white border, and on the reverse side each has an explanation of the subject in English and Chinese. The 12 cards come in their original paper envelope which has a picture on front and a title in Chinese. On the back of this envelope is a logo of some type showing a Chinese building with a camel-train at the base. Also, there is English writing in light pencil on the back of this envelope, as shown in the picture of the back. All twelve cards or prints are in excellent condition with only very minor corner bumping, there are no creases or folds or tears or stains. I estimate that these date from the 1920s or '30s as they came from the estate of an American who traveled in China in the 1930s.