Longevity Hill Reverse Glass Painting

Painted with exquisite detail, this quiet landscape is a charming example of reverse glass painting. Lending the finished work a subtle three-dimensional effect, painting on the opposite side of a glass pane requires the artist to work in reverse. In this case, the minute details of each riverside skiff or towering pagoda were painted first, followed by a dense backdrop of lush foliage. A challenge to the artist's skill, this exacting painting technique doesn't allow for any corrections, and is only revealed to its full effect when the glass pane is turned around. Large overhead characters 北平萬壽山 identify the setting as "Beiping", Longevity Hill, the primary gardens of the Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing. "Beiping" is the way Beijing was identified during the Republic Era, 1928-1949.