A hand painted gouche scene on pith paper, depicting a seated Manchu official in a dark blue informal robe with an embroidererd rank badge/insignia panel and red-buttoned court hat with peacock-feather queue, resting his arm on a hardwood scholars table, st with a blue jade mounted incense brush stand. Before him kneels an attendant in a green robe, orange cap and pink sash presenting a scroll or document. Both figures stand on a richly patterned flora carpet. It is set within a modern gilt-wood frame. The sheet with a central vertical fold line is consistent with the age and typical of a pith sheet drawing. Te pigment is bright and largely stable and there is good detail to the painting. It was clearly meant for the export market valued by Western buyers as ethnographic curiosities documenting Chinese dress, furniture and social custom. Frame size is 40x34x3cm. Please note that shipping costs are not solely the cost of the postal delivery service itself. Included within the shipping price is the work undertaken to research the article, to mount it, for photography, for uploading to Catawiki, for preparation and packaging the article securely and for transporting the article to the postal delivery agent for processing. 

 Also, please consider when bidding on this lot that this artwork is shipped from the UK. Import duties will now have to be paid by the recipient to the Postal Service when the parcel arrives in your country. This will likely vary between 5% and 20% of the sale price depending on your country's Import Rate, so please check this if you are concerned. This is a Tax collected on behalf of your Government and is not an additional fee charged by us.