32,1 x 457 cm Condition Style of Qiu Ying (~1494-1552), China, ca. 17th ct., Ladies Engaged in the Silk Production. Handscroll, ink and colours on silk. Signature: "Painted by Qiu Ying Shifu". Two seals: "Qiu shi Shifu", "Shizhou". Magnificent scroll depicting the process of silk production. Only ladies are engaged in that business and they are shown plucking the leaves of the mulberry tree and feeding the silk worms kept in palace-like buildings. The silk cocoons are harvested and cooked and the silk thread unwound and spun on various kinds of wooden machines. On big looms in great halls, the silk is woven to plain and decorated cloth. Finally women are shown ironing the silk lengths. Between the ladies, small children are seen playing. The scroll is painted in the characteristic style of Qiu Ying of whom several similar scroll compositions depicting beautiful ladies are known. The figures and buildings are of a nice quality and done with vivid expressions.-Property from an important South German private collection, acquired at Sandvoss, Hannover, 1989, on loan at the Museum of East Asian Art, exhibition "Rice Cultivation and Silk Production in Chinese Paintings and Prints", 20th March to 30th June 1996-Minor damage due to age, minor restorations