Figure in a Garden

Two other paintings from this series were exhibited in Encounters: The Meeting of Asia and Europe 1500-1800, Victoria and Albert Museum, 23 September-5 December 2004, published in the associated catalogue: (Anna Jackson and Amin Jaffer ed., Encounters: The Meeting of Asia and Europe 1500-1800, V Press, 2004, pp. 212-3, 382, pl. 16.12). In the accompanying essay Anna Jackson, Keeper of Asia at the Victoria and Albert Museum, states she believes the paintings relate to an imperial twelve fold screen, painted by Giuseppe Castiglionne (1688-1766). There are also marked similarities in this depcition of the figure in the present lot and a portrait of the Yongzheng Emperor, painted as part of an album of costume portraits, 1723-5, showing the emperor in various guises (Palace Museum Beijing). As with the Yongzheng portrait, the figure depicted in the present lot is shown in European dress augmented with traditional Chinese accessories. While the wig, sleeves and cape are all European in cut and style, the elaborate beading and pendants hanging across the figures chest are definitively part of Chinese dress.