Beschreibung:

China. The present album consists of 40 leaves, each with a masterful and highly detailed portrait of a young beauty painted by Gai Qi, all wearing elegant robes and elaborate headdresses, sometimes richly adorned with jewelry and jade pendants. Black ink, gold, silver, and watercolors on thin paper, laid down on album leaves. Unsigned. Provenance: Collection of Li Shimin. Collection of Gérard Lévy, thence by descent. Li Shimin was a writer, actor and an English teacher of Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975. Gérard Lévy (1934-2016), named by Le Figaro as ‘The Man with the Carnation’ for the flower he would always wear on his lapel, was a revered dealer and connoisseur of Asian art and antique photography. His gallery in Paris, designed by Le Corbusier, opened in 1966, and is today run and managed by his daughter, with the help of her two brothers, both renowned collectors themselves. Condition: Good condition with old wear, minor soiling, little creasing, small losses, few minute tears. Extensive wear and traces of use to album cover. Expertise: A translation of and commentary about the inscriptions on the cover and the first page by Studio des Pensées Fraiches, written in French by Laurent Long for Gérard Lévy, dated 20 September 2010, accompanies this lot. Album inventory: An (incomplete) name list of the beauties depicted in the present album, including some historic references, written in French and compiled by Galerie Gerard Levy, accompanies this lot. Dimensions: Leaf size 31 x 19.5 cm (each), Size 34 x 22.5 x 13 cm (the box and cover) The album covers are made from solid brown cardboard, overall encapsulated in finely woven yellow silk, bearing a central Shou character, encircled by bats and bearing the title inscription on a paper label: ‘One Hundred Beauties by Gai Qixiang [Gai Qi] of Qing, preserved by Li Shimin’. The first page of the album bears a long inscription mentioning the biography of the painter, his influences, and a description of his work. The album is preserved inside a fine Chinese hardwood box and cover, the front with a metal handle, dating to the 19th century. (2) The artist Gai Qi (1773-1828), known by his courtesy name Boyun and scholar name Yuhu Waishi, was one of the most accomplished artists of the Qing dynasty, who mastered the painting of lady's portraits beyond comparison. He is also noted for the illustration of an important fiction in Chinese literature history, Dream of the Red Chamber, also known as The Story of Stone. Expert’s note: Of the 100 beauties mentioned in the title, 40 remain in the present album. The original compilation was – according to a dating inscription on page one – posthumously created in the year 1863, at which time also the box, the front and back covers, and page one were probably added to the paintings. Additionally, the title label was most likely added shortly after the fall of the Qing dynasty, as indicated by the missing ‘da’ (great) character which usually precedes the dynasty name in dating inscriptions written during the Qing dynasty. Note that there is a second paper label hidden directly beneath the present title label. It therefore seems clear that Li Shimin did not originally compile the present album, but rather preserved it during the tumultuous times of the Republic period, adding the present title label. Auction result comparison: Compare a related album by Gai Qi, but comprising only eight leaves of 22.8 x 19 cm, at Christie’s New York, in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 17 September 2010, lot 1061, sold for USD 16,250 and another comprising only eight leaves of 32 x 18 cm at Bonhams Hong Kong, in Fine Chinese Art on 27 May 2021, lot 15, bought-in at an estimate of HKD 400,000-500,000. Compare also a larger painting of a beauty by Gai Qi at Sotheby’s New York in Fine Classical Chinese Paintings on 13 September 2012, lot 664, sold for USD 16,250; and another at Sotheby’s Paris in Arts d’