Chinese school, c. 1970.

Chinese school, c. 1970.
"Court scene".
Oil under glass.
Measurements: 57 x 37.5 x 2 cm.
This work belongs to the Chinese pictorial tradition of painting under glass, a decorative technique that enjoyed remarkable popularity both in China and in the West, especially between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The piece, made around 1970 by an anonymous author belonging to a modern Chinese school, depicts a court scene starring a young woman playing the lute.
The central figure with a delicate face and dressed in brightly colored silk robes seems to be inspired by the traditional iconography of the geishas or court ladies, although adapted to a syncretic and more decorative visual language, common in the artistic production of China in the twentieth century oriented to the market. Although the figure is associated with the aesthetics of the Japanese geisha, it is more appropriate to consider her as part of the idealized feminine archetype that dominates this type of painting: the cultured, refined woman, devoted to the arts and contemplation.
During the twentieth century, under glass painting experienced a commercial revitalization, where traditionally inspired scenes adapted to contemporary decorative tastes were produced.