Two (2) Chinese watercolor and gouache ancestor portrait paintings depicting elderly male civil officials in blue coats with paradise flycatcher embroidered rank badges and tiered black caps seated on wooden thrones draped with pattered green fabric, including one (1) on silk depicting an official wearing an embroidered blue robe and red beaded necklace seated upon a raised throne on a patterned rug, and one (1) on paper with silk backing depicting an official with brown floral robe. Both housed in ebonized wood frames with shaped gilt central hanger to top rail; portrait on paper housed under glass. Portrait on silk sight: 42 3/4" H x 23 3/8" W; framed: 46 7/8" H x 24 3/4" W. Portrait on paper sight: 32 3/8" H x 19 1/2" W; framed: 33 5/8" H x 20 7/8" W. Qing period.

PROVENANCE: The collection of the late Fount and Ida Smothers, Thompson's Station, Tennessee, acquired when they visited China as part of a US-sponsored cultural exchange delegation of architects in the early 1970s.

CONDITION: Both items with scattered areas of wear to paint and discoloration to silk or paper. Portrait on silk with scattered threadbare areas and areas of loss, largest measuring 1 1/2" x 5 1/4" to lower right corner. Portrait on paper with scattered creasing throughout; minor water damage right side primarily in upper right corner.