Imperial Chinese bird paintings set to fly
Two remarkable sets of Imperial Chinese bird paintings, commissioned by Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722), have been discovered in UK homes in Dorset and South London. The artworks, originally part of an encyclopaedic series by court artist and minister Jiang Tingxi, are now set to be publicly exhibited and auctioned at Roseberys in London, with a combined estimated value of up to £900,000.
The paintings were discovered by Bill Forrest, Head of Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art at Roseberys Auctioneers, during a routine valuation in South London. This initial discovery of seven works led to the revelation of a further twelve paintings in Dorset, both belonging to descendants of Major Iain Menzies (1895-1979), who likely acquired them after the First World War. Remarkably, upon removing the paintings from their frames, it was discovered that all retain their original accompanying text, a rarity that significantly enhances their historical value.
The paintings will be publicly exhibited for the first time at the Hong Kong International Antiques Fair in May before being offered in Roseberys’ Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art auctions on May 13 and 14. They will be presented in two lots of seven and twelve paintings, with estimates of £200,000-£400,000 and £300,000-£500,000, respectively.
They were acquired by Major Iain Menzies after the First World War and hung in his home, Tadley Court during the 1950s, before moving to Cannon Hall in 1964. Menzies joined the Coldstream Guards in 1914 and was recruited from the Special Reserve to serve in France during World War I with the Brigade Machine-Gun Company. He resigned with the rank of Lieutenant in 1919. He was the brother of Major Stewart Menzies, former Head of Special Operations Executive, a British espionage outfit formed in 1940 to combat German forces.
Emperor Kangxi commissioned court artist Jiang Tingxi to produce an encyclopaedic album depicting 360 birds alongside a textual description of each, likely completed in 1721. They were produced in 12 volumes of 30 paintings and were bound together as albums, with corresponding text on the opposing page. Some of the birds depicted are not referenced in classical Chinese or early modern European ornithological texts. They are vital records of China’s natural history and Qing-era expansionist ambitions – Kangxi had conquered Taiwan in 1687, Mongolia in 1697, and was working to draw Tibet more closely under Qing control. The geographical distribution of the birds depicted reflects this.
“This discovery is truly extraordinary. Only a handful of these paintings have surfaced in recent decades, usually as single works or in small groups. Finding nineteen at once, especially with their original texts intact, is unprecedented. It is an enormous privilege to exhibit them in Hong Kong ahead of Roseberys’ auction in May,” said Bill Forrest, Director and Head of Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art at Roseberys.
The anonymous sellers, who had displayed the paintings as family heirlooms for decades, were astonished by their significance. “I remember seeing them hanging in Tadley Court and later Cannon House. I thought they were visually striking but had no idea of their historical importance or value,” one commented.
Birds have long been a central motif in Chinese art, dating back to the tenth-century rise of the “bird and flower” painting tradition. Jiang Tingxi was particularly celebrated for his bird and flower paintings. Through his interactions with Western missionaries at court, he acquired European painting techniques. As a result, his works uniquely combined the “boneless” (mogu) style, characteristic of the Changzhou School, with Western techniques, emphasising painting with colour and ink without visible contour lines, perspectival accuracy and chiaroscuro. This fusion gave rise to the so-called “Jiang School” of bird and flower painting.