Pictures of foreigners, 123 album leaves, ink and colour on silk, Lang Shining, 1688-1766.

Picture of foreigners,painted for the emperor Ch'ien Lung

Purchased from E. Bischoff (Beijing and 19 Mortimer Street, London), accessioned in 1909. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
The album was submitted for purchase by E. Bischoff (Peking and London, 19 Mortimer Street) to the art library of the museum on 4 Feb. 199. The vendor wished the museum to buy it at £3 initially but accepted the sum of £2 in March. The remarks made by E.F. Strange (Keeper of the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, 19-1914) are as follow:

"This volume contains 12 paintings on silk entitled 'Pictures of Barbarians'. It was done by a Chinese artist, a court painter, Lung Tse Ning (?) specially for the Emperor Ch'ien Lung (1735-1796); and repressents, I think, scenes in the country bordering on Tibet, in which the Miaotzu war took place about 1768. The work is well done in the earlier Ming style; and the costumes, weapons, xxx, architecture and other accessories are so well rendered that it would be of great value to us in the identification of objects for which few authorities exist and which have considerable beauty of execution. I recommend the purchase at £3 but that an attempt be made to secure it at a lower price. E.F. Strange. 17/2/9".

According to the description on 5 Feb. 199, the 12 paintings were loose leaves with painted (linen?) covers - damaged.
[NB: For E.F. Strange, see Rupert Faulkner, 'Japanese Woodblock prints in the Victoria and Albert Museum', in Masterpieces of Japanese Prints: Ukiyo-e from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Kodansha International, 1999), p. 25]

Lang Shining or Lang Dhih Ning

E.2154-1909