Album of Chinese Trades by Zhou Qiliang, Son of Zhou Peichun

n.p. (Peking?), 1880. Softcover. Near fine. Bound album approximately 6 by 7 inches, decorated paper covers and string bound in the Chinese style. Pith paper pages containing 12 original paintings of Chinese trades with blank interleaves. The paper is tissue-thin, the paintings intricate and bright. Each painting is captioned in Chinese describing the scene. The first page has red inscriptions, somewhat faint, identifying the artist. We note a couple of closed marginal chips to the paper, and one closed marginal tear into the edge of a painting (no loss), now archivally repaired from the reverse side. In general, though, this album is fine and bright including the original binding, and unusual so.

The artist, Zhou Qiliang, son of Zhou Peichun, continued his father's tradition of documenting the culture of his time in vibrant, finely executed miniature paintings for the export trade.

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