Qing Dynasty, last third of the 19th century. "Portrait... Lot 78

Qing Dynasty, last third of the 19th century. "Portrait of an officer". Painting on rice paper. Measurements: 19.5 x 13 cm; 29.5 x 26 x 1.5 cm (frame). Full-length portrait of an officer of the Chinese imperial guard. He wears a cobalt blue tunic and carries a fan closed in one hand. It belongs to the period of Emperor Guangxu, the tenth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule China proper. His reign, which lasted from 1875 to 1908, was largely dominated by his aunt, Empress Dowager Cixi. Guangxu initiated the radical Hundred Days Reform, but it was abruptly interrupted when the empress dowager staged a coup d'état in 1898. After the death of Emperor Tongzhi in 1875, Empress Dowager Cixi installed her four-year-old nephew as Emperor Guangxu, contravening Qing dynastic custom.