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This is a set of 9 paintings which seems to be depicting the process of harvesting silk worms to making the actual silk. They appear to be very old and have Fitzgerald Book & Art Co stamps on the back. Some of the paintings have tears. If anyone has any information on the time period these may have been done, value or possible artist name, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

these were done during the 19th century by anonymous artists for export, gouache on paper. since these depict stages in a process, they are worth more together than separated, maybe $50 each

really? that seems very low. I've seen a pair of 2 sell for 300, and those were damaged with rust stains. where would i be able to sell these besides the obvious internet sites?

I've since found out that these paintings are 19th century Qing paintings, circa 1850, from Guangdong China. They are on rice paper and the colors appear extremely vivid for the age. I dont think the frames are original to the paintings.

Does anyone know how much these might be worth? There are 9 of them. Thank you.

At the risk of confusing the issue, I thought I'd show this gouache on pith paper painting of the 'Ascension to the Throne of the Xuantong Emperor' (per a label on its matting). The preceding Guangxu emperor died in 1908, so this painting can't antedate that year. However, what appeared to be the original frame of this picture had a page from an August 1933 Chinese newspaper (Minguo 22nd year) as an internal liner beneath the mat.

In my estimation, the piece likely was painted much closer to the time of its framing than might be expected from its old look. Such pictures seem to have been hot tourist items in major cities of China in the early years of the 20th century, before the Japanese invasion in 1936. Somebody had to be copying the older examples to supply the demand, so I wonder if a lot of these works on pith, which is easily soiled and tattered, doesn't tend to invite overestimation of age, like dirtied Chinese dishes.

Anyway, just one collector's perspective.

Best regards,

Bill H.

good point, I wasn't aware that these were being churned out in the 20th century but it sounds plausible. vivid colors on your piece.

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