1970 CHINESE ORIGINAL GONGBI MUGHAL ART CHOICE BETWEEN 2 BEAUTIFUL FRAMED PERSIAN INK MINIATURE PAINTINGS ON SILK EXTREMELY DETAILED RENDITION OF BIRDS & FLOWER BLOSSOMS DECORATOR DESIGNER COLLECTOR WALL ART DECOR

We recently closed our gallery of rare antique books and prints, original signed art, and unique hand painted frames, some of the prints and art framed, some not, and all our artwork and antique prints will be listed here daily as we go.

During the Song Dynasty, the art of Chinese Gongbi painting was at its peak.

Gongbi is a careful realist technique from China, the opposite of the interpretive and freely expressive xieyi (寫意 ‘sketching thoughts’) style and painted with a Chinese writing ink brush on Shu Xuan paper or silk that it is not permeable (for it has been covered by the glue and alum).   .

The name is from the Chinese gong chin meaning ‘tidy’ (meticulous delicate precise detailed brush craftsmanship). The technique uses highly detailed brushstrokes that define details very precisely and without independent or expressive variation. It is often highly colored and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects.

The style had its beginnings approximately 2000 years ago during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) when Han's political stability and its prosperity favored the advancement of the arts. These paintings peaked out between the Tang and Song Dynasties (7th to 13th centuries) when these refined paintings were endorsed and collected by the royal families of China. The Gongbi artists, to perfect this style, must totally commit themselves to these techniques. Only the wealthy could afford such artists. This style of art was accomplished in secret in royal palaces and private homes.

Gongbi requires drawing with fine lines first to represent the exaggerated likenesses of the objects, and then adding washes of ink and color, layer by layer (up to 9 layers), so as to approach the perfection of exquisiteness and fine art which all demands infinite time, technique and patience.

 

The Gongbi is created on not absorbing paper or silk.

Two methods are possible:

The first consists of laying out the sketch directly on the sheet which you want to paint with a pencil. Because the rice sheets are very fine and thus fragile, you cannot really gum and trace again without damaging the support. It is thus necessary to succeed on the first blow. Some small corrections while gumming slightly are however possible.

The second method consists in initially tracing the sketch on a usual sheet of paper (Western or Chinese, it does not matter). Then you place this sheet on the paper which you want to paint, the sketch upwards. With the pencil, you trace again on contours in order to leave a print on the sheet under. This one then has slightly printed contours. You can then start to paint it. If printed contours are not sufficiently visible, you can slightly recall them with the pencil. This method is longer, but it makes it possible not to damage the surface of the paper or silk.
The downstroke and upstroke are of very great importance and it sometimes happens to find painters who do not grant much attention to it. Lastly, according to the tonality of color that you envision to use for each part, you must pay attention to the density of ink for contours.

Application of colors is done in several stages. Before undertaking each stage, the colors applied previously must be quite dry. First you apply a color with one brush. Then, with the other brush soaked with water you shade and degrade the colors. For two colors, you first make a shade of a color as described above. When painting is dry, you make a shade of the other color on the basis of the other side and going in the opposite direction. The techniques are diversified and vary according to the subjects.

This is a very delicate, precise and time consuming art of great beauty.

We also carry original authentic prints 300 years old or less, framed or not, in great condition such as: Albin, Audubon, Baron, Barraband, Bertuch, Brodtmann, Brown, Buffon, Cassel, Curtis, Cuvier, Donovan, Edwards, Fitch, Frisch, Grandville, Harrison, Walter Hood, Latham, Linden,Linnaeus, Loddiges, Martinet, McKenney, Morris, Munting, Redoute, Reinchenbachia, Schreber, Schubert, Selby, Shaw and Nodder, Van Geel, Warner, etc..

Again, we closed our art store of antique prints and custom frames as well as our store of rare artifacts from around the world and we will now sell them direct to the public here. We have 1000's of antique prints and it will take a while to do so, so if you are interested in prints from the names above or others since I did not have time to list them all, please contact us.