ZHANG KAI China, active ca. 1867 - 1895 190 x 112 cm, R. Large illustration of a phoenix and peaches as wishes for happiness and for the long life of the Empress Mother Cixi. Ink and elegent colours on silk, free and flowing strokes form the beautiful depiction of phoenix, peach tree, bamboo and lingzhi as a traditional symbol of good luck and long life for ladies within the social class of the high nobility, often made for birthday celebrations. With inscription yaochi shengjing (Sacred Area of Paradise Yaochi) and sign. chen zhang kai gong hui (courteously painted by your subject Zhang Kai) with seal neiting gongfeng (working in court), still four seals of Empress Cixi: cixi huangtaihou yulan zhi bao (seal of Empress Mother Cixi for her appraisal), yisheng yangxing, yinghai xianban and dayazhai. Important German aristocratic private collection, assembled in China prior to 1904 and owned by the family since then - Paradise Yaochi is the sacred abode of the Taoist high deity Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West). This excellent large-scale painting entitled Paradise Yaochi was painted by this court painter and was probably intended to be used as a painting for a large folding screen in the palace of Empress Mother Cixi (1835-1908), which was to be made in the interior of her palace for her birthday celebration. Zhang Kai alias Lezhai from Wuxian County (in present-day Suzhou), age unclear, worked as a court painter as well as chief painter in the Ruyiguan Imperial Art Academy between ca. 1867 and 1895, he was especially appreciated for his painting after nature and copying the works of older important painters. He skilfully mastered not only the gongbi style, which is characterised by fine brushwork and detailed depiction, but also the xieyi style. Minor traces of age, backed