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Old Yunnan painting

Peter99 (1246 posts) • +1

Maybe someone of you is interested, a painting of old Yunnan on Ebay. It looks very beautiful. Of the Jinbi arch. Hundred years old.

I got no connection to it, just found it on ebay, just saying, have quit my Yunnan collecting so I hope someone who appreciate Yunnan history maybe finds it interesting.

Maybe something for gokunming office. Or on the shelf of your bar. If anyone buys it, pls inform and add a note where it will be put.

www.ebay.com/[...]

Peter99 (1246 posts) • 0

Maybe. I dont know, found it on ebay this morning, but will not buy it. But I almost bought it. But where should I put it, in an andalucian house full of moisture? Nah.

If the deal works out, anyone who buys that can get the face in Spring City Daily.

I just put the link here bcs I hope it will be bought buy someone with connection to Yunnan. If all is genuine, it deserves a good home. Preferably in Yunnan.

lemon lover (1006 posts) • +7

Unclear to me what this really is. The first description states that it is an “engraving painted and signed”. That would mean it is a print on paper made using the engraving technique.
The description below states it is a “TABLEAU GRAVURE ORIGINALE SUR PLAQUE DE MÉTAL”. This could mean that it is the original engraving plate. This might explain the strange angel of the picture because engraving plates are shiny metal also the angel could be explained as well as a try to get rid of the reflexion of the glass.
Engravings are normally numbered and signed on the edge of the paper prints. The numbering indicates as well as how many prints are made in total. Example: 4/50 means print number 4 out of a series of 50. Lower numbers tend to be crisper because the printing plate wears out during the printing process and therefore have a higher value. The text states as well that the signature of the artist cannot be deciphered.
Lacking signature and numbering makes most engravings rather worthless.
Below the engraving there is a reference to Émile Labarthe and some of the pictures below the engraving are from his book. See:
www.chineancienne.fr/[...]
I get the impression that an amateur engraver made this inspired on the pictures from the book. I say amateur because the figures in the background are rather like matchstick men.
The print is coloured in with blue in a not to successful way and the print itself has decoloured. The frame is rather battered and looks like it spend too much time on the flea market.
Maybe something for people with a nostalgia for Kunming but I would not put my money into it.

Xiefei (539 posts) • 0

If it's gravure, then the original printing plate is actually a cylinder. Also, the characters would be backwards (which they're not).

lemon lover (1006 posts) • +1

Most engravings are made on flat metal sheets. Cylinders are only used for automated mass productions like bank notes.
Some artists make their engravings mirrored in order for their prints to be correct but some artists don’t bother with that.
Anyway the method used looks more like etching to me.

Xiefei (539 posts) • 0

Gravure is the name for a type of printing that is done using a rolling cylinder. The description provided could be wrong, but that's what it says.

DanTheMan (620 posts) • 0

I think the confusion may be that in French gravure is a generic term for engraving (and even etching) and doesn't refer to the specific process/technology as it does in English. In English, it is a shortened version of "rotogravure," thus the cylinder.

Anyway, it's weird. My interpretation from the photos and what I can make of the Google Translate of the description, it seems somebody took an engraved plate and then drew on top of it with ink.

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