ORIENTAL MINIATURE ON IVORY - Chinese erotic painting on silk.

Fine oriental miniature of an erotic scene of an Chinese couple engaged in amorous pursuit. Quin Dynasty, late 19th. century.

This type of Chinese erotic paintings, usually anonymous, also called "pillow books" or "spring images", have their beginning in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and have their peak in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1664) and they have been used throughout the centuries for visual use and enjoyment, and some people also say that they were illustrations in books or scrolls that mothers gave their daughters before the wedding so that they could be instructed in the art of love. Unfortunately, in the middle of the 20th century, due to political changes and the struggle for the destruction of images related to traditional structures of power, most of these works of art were destroyed.