Anonymous: An ancestor portrait (1500-1644)

(Private Collection)

A painting made by an unknown Chinese artist. This piece is an ancestor portrait as it depicts a deceased relative of the unknown commissioner. The man is sitting in chair with a serene expression. In the Ming and Qing dynasty civil and military officials wore rank-defining badges (a Mandarin squares) on the front and back of their robes. In this case the long red Ming-style robe is decorated with a rank badge of double cranes with identifies the man as a civil official of the first-rank. Painting from the late Ming-dynasty, probably 1500-1644.