Large female ancestor painting, China, 18th-19th century Ink and polychrome on silk. The woman, shown seated on a textile-covered jiaoyi-type armchair, is wearing a dark blue cloak adorned with large round medallions featuring two dragons facing each other around a gold-colored shou sign. In the center of the garment, a sixth-rank civil mandarin's badge, symbolized by an aigrette. She is richly coiffed with the fengguang, or phoenix crown, and wears earrings. At the rear, to her left stands a young maid holding a tray on which rests a blue-and-white porcelain-covered bowl; and to her right, a tall quadrangular burgundy lacquer saddle on which rests a perfume burner and its toolkit, a peony in a vase and an ancestral tablet bearing the inscription: 皇清诰授安人显妣刘太君神位, Huang qing gao shou an ren xian bi liu tai jun shen wei, "Commemorative tablet of the late mother, Madame Liu, who received the honorary title of "An Ren" from the emperor of the Qing dynasty". The top of the headdress is decorated with four medallions, each inscribed with a character, the whole meaning: 奉天诰命, Feng tian gao ming, "Madame Gao ming, by divine decree (order)". 171 x 102 cm Marouflaged and stretched on frame. Wear, repaints and restorations. Provenance : - Sale Cornette de Saint Cyr Estate of Madame Anne-Marie Rousset, Paris, October 15, 2020, lot no. 126. - Former Robert Rousset collection (1901-1981). - Bears two labels from former inventories of the Robert Rousset collection prior to 1935. "Madame Gao ming" was an honorary title conferred on the mothers or wives of high-ranking officials during the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties.