A clergyman, gouache, China for Europe, 17th-19th century Treated in Western-style polychrome on paper, the man is seated in a European-style interior, cross-legged in front of a desk on which rests an inkwell and a mitre, which he appears to be looking at pensively, his head resting on his right hand as he leans back. His other hand holds a book open in his lap. On the back of the work, an inscription in French: "St. Jérôme dessiné par un peintre chinois", and an inscription in Chinese: 聖盎博羅削 in pinyin - Shèng Àngbóluóxuē, which would be, translated into French, not Saint Jérôme, but Saint Ambroise (who was bishop of Milan in the 4th century). 28 x 18 cm on view Framed. Various early paintings and engravings of the same subject, depicting Saint Ambrose, are similar to the one shown here.