Pair Chinese Qing Court Costume Lithographs in Elaborate Gilt Frames, C. 1900

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A fine pair of Chinese figural costume lithographs depicting a male court official or mandarin figure and a female figure … Read more A fine pair of Chinese figural costume lithographs depicting a male court official or mandarin figure and a female figure in richly ornamented Qing-style dress. Each figure is shown full-length against a plain ground, emphasizing the elaborate robes, textile patterning, formal posture, and ceremonial character of the costume. The prints are presented in giltwood frames with red inner borders, giving the pair a decorative gallery presence while preserving their ethnographic and costume-study appeal.

Research into comparable material places these within the broader 19th- and early 20th-century tradition of Chinese costume imagery produced for Western collecting and decorative markets. Related costume plates and lithographs of Chinese mandarins, court ladies, and regional or ceremonial dress circulated widely in European and American print culture, often adapted from earlier Chinese export images, costume albums, and illustrated travel publications. Similar examples are cataloged as lithographs or hand-colored costume prints representing Chinese mandarins, court ladies, and “Chinese costumes.”

The subjects’ dress relates to Qing dynasty court and formal costume traditions, in which robe form, collar treatment, sleeve shape, rank accessories, and textile ornament carried social and ceremonial meaning. While these prints should not be cataloged as original painted ancestor portraits, they clearly draw from the same visual vocabulary of Chinese official and court attire. The verso retains labels from The Wiley Gallery, Inc., Hartford, Connecticut, indicating later gallery handling or framing history rather than the original maker of the lithographs.

Measurements: 10" w x 14.5" h framed. See less