Scenes of Love, Qing dynasty, 18th century | 清十八世紀 〈閨中樂事〉 一冊八幀　設色絹本

An old Dutch private collection.

Acquired in Amsterdam, c.1980.

荷蘭私人舊藏

約1980年購於阿姆斯特丹

Yimen and Ferry M. Bertholet, Dreams of Spring. Erotic Art in China, Amsterdam, 1997, pp. 52-57.

Ferdinand M. Bertholet, Les Jardins du Plaisir: Érotisme et art dans la Chine ancienne / Gardens of Pleasure: Eroticism and Art in China, Paris, 2003 (rev. English ed., Munich, Berlin, London, New York, 2010), pp. 12, 21, 23, 90-101.

Yimen 及貝索烈，《春夢遺葉》，阿姆斯特丹，1997年，頁52-57

貝索烈，《Les Jardins du Plaisir: Érotisme et art dans la Chine ancienne / Gardens of Pleasure: Eroticism and Art in China》，巴黎，2003年（英文再版，慕尼黑、柏林、倫敦、紐約，2010年），頁12、21、23、90-101

The present album belongs to a type of semi-erotic artworks which feature autonomous scenes that invite viewers to invent stories using their imagination (James Cahill, ‘Les peintures érotiques chinoises de la collection Bertholet’, Le Palais du printemps, op. cit., p. 33). Except for a bathing lady and a man in a garden, all figures are at least partially clothed. The pictures are moments frozen in time. Framed by the ‘moon’ window, a woman plays the flute while her lover caresses her breast. In another scene, a man stares through an open window at a lady who touches herself in the bath. 

The pictures are further enhanced by carefully detailed household objects such as antiques and books, which suggest the protagonists’ affluence and education.