Antique French Chinoiserie Costume Prints

Collection of six lithograph prints each hand watercoloured, depicting a Tartar woman, a Chinese scholar, a high ranking Chinese man, a Chinese merchant, a guard of the emperor and a Japanese man. All in an old mount cut in octagonal shapes, circa 1840, French. At the time the engravings were made the French were in China trying to establish missions. These prints would have been created to satisfy the curiosity about the costume and habits of Far Eastern people, thus contributing to the enduring fashion for Chinoiserie in decor.
Frame size 34cm by 41.5cm