Lot 230
SET OF SEVENTEEN CHINESE EXPORT PAINTED WALLPAPER PANELS
QING DYNASTY, 18TH-19TH CENTURY
Auction: 06 November 2026 from 10:00 GMT
Description
清 外銷彩繪花鳥圖壁紙 水粉及水墨設色紙本（共十七幅）
gouache and watercolour on paper, comprising six large rectangular panels, two of dome form, one long strip, eight of irregular and rectangular form, all hand-painted on turquoise ground with flowering plants and foliage including magnolia, peony, plum blossom and others issuing from ground with rockwork, save for six panels inhabited by chicken, magpies, doves, and butterflies (17)
Dimensions
largest: 250cm x 116cm
Provenance
Property of Erskine of Torrie Institution. Formerly hung in Dunimarle Castle, Fife.
Dunimarle Castle, near Culross in Fife, Scotland, was acquired by Mrs Magdalene Sharpe Erskine of Dunimarle (1787–1872) in the 1830s, and the present castellated house was built in 1839–45 to designs by Robert and Richard Dickson, incorporating an earlier 18th-century mansion. The Castle was sold to private ownership in 2009.
Erskine of Torrie Institution was created in 1841 by Mrs Magdalene Sharpe Erskine of Dunimarle, daughter of Sir William Erskine of Torrie, Baronet. The Trust received Dunimarle Castle itself, along with a diverse collection of ornaments, furniture, books, and artwork. The trust’s purpose was for the encouragement of the fine arts, and the encouragement and improvement of botany. The Castle thus came to serve as a public museum. The remaining part of the Dunimarle Collection is now on loan with Historic Environment Scotland, where it is displayed at Duff House in Aberdeenshire.
It is understood that this set of wallpapers was specifically cut to fit the first floor lobby, which explains some of the irregular form.
Sold on behalf of and to benefit the Erskine of Torrie Institution.
Torrie Erskine信託（Erskine of Torrie Institution）藏品。原飾於蘇格蘭法夫郡Dunimarle城堡。
蘇格蘭法夫郡Culross附近的Dunimarle城堡，於19世紀30年代由Dunimarle的Magdalene Sharpe Erskine夫人（1787–1872）購得。現存城堡式建築於1839至1845年間興建，由Robert及Richard Dickson設計，並融入原有的18世紀宅邸。城堡於2009年售予私人所有。Dunimarle收藏的其餘部分現由蘇格蘭歷史環境局（Historic Environment Scotland）借展，並陳列於阿伯丁郡的Duff House。
Torrie Erskine信託由Magdalene Sharpe Erskine夫人（Torrie的William Erskine爵士、準男爵之女）於1841年創立。該信託承接Dunimarle城堡以及一批種類多樣的骨董藝術、家具、書籍及藝術品。其宗旨在於推廣美術，以及促進及發展植物學。Dunimarle Castle後成為一座向公眾開放的博物館。
據悉，這組中國外銷壁紙為配合城堡一樓大廳的空間而特別裁製，因此部分壁紙呈現不規則狀。
本拍品爲捐助Torrie Erskine信託義賣。
Footnote
Many forms of Chinese export art played an important role in European interior decoration during the late 17th and 18th century, of which black and gold lacquer furniture, silk embroidery, and porcelain wares are most common. Chinese wallpapers appeared in Europe at about the same time as part of the larger trade. Imported by the East India and Dutch East India companies, these hand-painted papers arrived in Europe in the form of rolled sheets and marked an astonishing change of taste in grand houses that endured throughout the 18th century into the 19th century and then again periodically in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Most of the great houses of Europe had at least one room decorated with Chinese papers, they were often hung to form continuous mural decoration around the room and featured exotic subject matter, which are scenes of Chinese life and landscapes, flowering trees populated with birds, butterflies and insects, and a hybrid decoration of the flowering trees incorporating figures and sometimes pagodas and temples.
The National Trust looks after one of the most important collections of historic Chinese wallpapers in the world, on permanent display at 18 country houses. For discussion and comparison of the wallpapers in British country houses, see de Bruijn, E., Bush, A. and Clifford H., Chinese Wallpaper in National Trust Houses, Swindon, National Trust, 2014, and de Bruijn, Emile, Chinese Wallpaper in Britain and Ireland, London, Philip Wilson in collaboration with the National Trust, 2017.
Comparable panels of wallpaper painted with birds and flowers on turquoise ground, Qing dynasty, ca. 1790-1820, are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession nos. E.2848-1923, E.3882-1915, and E.3944-1915. Also compare to a suite of twenty-four export Chinese wallpaper panels depicting birds and flowers, dated to the Qing dynasty, ca. 1790-1810, sold at Sotheby's London, 11 December 2019, lot 23.