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Re: Ancestors Portraits

Posted By: Judy
Posted Date: Dec 21, 2006 (07:36 AM)

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Michael,

These are attractive and decorative. Since you do not know who the people are and whether the man actually had the rank depicted by hat finial and badge, they become generic examples of ancestor portraits.

The term 'smuggled' suggests that there would be some reason for some authority not to wish that the portraits leave China. It is possible that prior owners fled when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, at a time when a near relative who had been an official might reflect adversely (politically) on the portraits' owners. Similar political problems occurred in 1949 and in the 1970s with the Cultural Revolution, when possession of such portraits would have been interpreted as demonstrating loyalty to the oppressor class.

A web search using that term will not yield much information. These do not have a high place in the range of connoisseurship of Chinese painting. They would not have been 'smuggled' due to artistic value. Older ones have a little historical interest, not as 'paintings' but in depictions of dress, textiles, accoutrements and furniture--not as associated with the subjects, but as typical of specific periods before the 19th century. Yours have decorative value. If by 'actual value' you mean price on the art / antiques market, your web search will show whether there is a market among those who crave association with the days of the very wealthy few in the days before the Republic.

Best regards,
Judy

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