CHINESE SCHOOL, 19TH CENTURY

This set of paintings illustrates key events from the classic 18th-century novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou Meng) by Cao Xueqin (first half 18th century). This sprawling epic of vernacular fiction centred on the life of Jia Baoyu and his extended family. Baoyu's name literally translates as precious jade, as he was the reborn spirit of a numinous stone.

These paintings animate this classical tale in rich detail. They present the precious stone's rebirth in human form, allude to Baoyu's various romantic liaisons, and capture dramatic moments such as the outbreak of fire in the family mansions. Baoyu's dreams are charmingly presented in billowing clouds that expand out around domestic scenes, showing him vanquishing aquatic demons and cavorting with heavenly goddesses. One painting includes an exquisite overview of the Jia family estate with its sumptuous gardens.

The paintings are executed in fine-line style brushwork with expertly applied colour. The blue-green tones of the landscape are an archaistic device that lends the paintings a classical flavour. This stylised archaism is juxtaposed with a deft use of parallel lines and prominent diagonals to imply a recession and division of space, adapted from European systems of perspective.