album; painting BM-1951-0407-0.2.1-10

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1672-1734 (artist)
Materials:paper
Technique:painted
Subjects:animal,flower
Dimensions:Height: 37.50 centimetres (image) Height: 47.50 centimetres (mount) Width: 33.50 centimetres (image) Width: 40 centimetres (mount)

Description:
Album with ten leaves. Flower, figure, animal. Ink and colour on paper. 1. Old man and child 老翁兒童 2. Butterfly, rock and tree 蝴蝶、樹石 3. Drunken old man 醉酒老翁 4. Lotus flower荷花 5. Female figures 6. Dragonfly 蜻蜓 7. Fisherman 垂釣漁人 8. Boy and water buffalo 牧童水牛 9. Scholar reading in a boat 文士舟中夜讀 10. Toad and mirror
IMG


Comments:In China, toads symbolise long life, as they live to a considerable age – up to 30 or 40 years. A popular legend in China tells of a three-legged toad that inhabited the moon, which it swallowed during the eclipse. Gao Qipei was from North China and was a civil servant in the early 18th century. He became famous as a finger painter, eventually abandoning the brush altogether.