Chinese School, Qing dynasty (1644-1912).

Chinese School, Qing dynasty (1644-1912).
"Portrait of ancestors".
Ink and polychrome on canvas.
Measurements: 215 x 154 cm.
Portrait of ancestors representing two great families, the Wang and the Yang, whose men and women appear dressed in traditional costumes, seated in hieratic posture before some votive steles adorned with epitaphs. The background is decorated with a table filled with offerings, and the lower part with servants, young women and animals. The orderly arrangement of the characters continues the line of the portraits of ancestors. In this typology of works, the characters are placed in the foreground, looking straight ahead, portrayed with great dignity and a marked naturalistic character, although they present a completely static posture. The characters are usually dressed in embroidered clothes and complements of their condition. Behind the characters there are architectural spaces that act as a backdrop to the representations, offering the viewer more information about who are the people represented.
As has been commented, aesthetically the piece derives from the cult of the ancestors. Ancestor worship is possibly the most widespread religious practice in China, and has its roots in the most remote history of the country, in the earliest manifestations of Chinese culture. It is perfectly integrated in Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, and extends to all spheres of Chinese religious life.