SET OF FOUR CHINESE EXPORT 'EXOTIC BIRDS' WALLPAPER PANELS QING DYNASTY, 18TH-19TH CENTURY 清 外銷壁紙花鳥圖 紙本設色 鏡框 （共四幅） gouache on paper, painted on pink ground with flowering plants and trees including prunus, peonies, chrysanthemums with rockwork, inhabited by pheasants, herons, quail and butterflies, with bamboo frames (167cm x 50.8cm each) Qty: (4) Provenance: Private Scottish collection, Broxmouth House, Dunbar, East Lothian, formerly in the drawing room; home of the Late Major-General Sir John Kennedy (1893-1970), G.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., K.B.E., C.B., M.C. He was a senior British Army officer who served as Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff during World War II. Broxmouth House was built ca. 1774 and was purchased and renovated by Major General Sir John Kennedy in 1966. Note: Many forms of Chinese export art played an important role in European interior decoration during the late 17th and 18th century, of which black and gold lacquer furniture, silk embroidery, and porcelain wares are most common. Chinese wallpapers appeared in Europe at about the same time as part of the larger trade. Imported by the East India and Dutch East India companies, these hand-painted papers arrived in Europe in the form of rolled sheets and marked an astonishing change of taste in grand houses that endured throughout the 18th century into the 19th century and then again periodically in the late 19th and early 20th century centuries. Most of the great houses of Europe had at least one room decorated with Chinese papers, they were often hung to form continuous murals decoration around the room and featured exotic subject matters, which are the scenes of Chinese life and landscapes, flowering trees populated with birds, butterflies and insects, and a hybrid decoration of the flowering trees incorporating with figures and sometimes pagodas and temples. The National Trust looks after one of the most important collections of historic Chinese wallpapers in the world, on permanent display at 18 country houses. For discussion and comparison of the wallpapers in British country houses, see de Bruijn, E., Bush, A. and Clifford H., Chinese Wallpaper in National Trust Houses, Swindon, National Trust, 2014, and de Bruijn, Emile, Chinese Wallpaper in Britain and Ireland, London, Philip Wilson in collaboration with the National Trust, 2017. Also compare to a suite of twenty-four export Chinese wallpaper panels depicting birds and flowers, dated to the Qing dynasty, ca. 1790-1810, sold at Sotheby's London, 11 December 2019, lot 23. A set of nine Chinese painted wallpaper panels, probably 19th century, was sold at Christie's London, 2 Oct 2013, lot 28.