View of a Chinese Harbor

Watercolor on paper, signed indistinctly. Circa 1900.

Painting size: 10” x 13.75”
Frame size: 20” x 24.75”

A rare set of twelve original watercolor paintings on pith (often mistakenly referred to as rice paper), Pith comes from the central column of a spongy cellular tissue in the stem of a small tree, Tetra Panax Papyifera, native to South-West China. It is cut by hand with a small, delicate knife into thin sheets of small size. The size is limited by the nature of the material and the process requires a highly skilled hand...