Set of Ten Erotic Bone Etchings

Despite their explicit content, these intimate scenes convey a sense of tenderness and romantic love characteristic of Chinese erotic art. Belonging to a genre known as “spring palace paintings,” these erotic compositions imagined the sensual delights of courtly life. Departing from ink and paper, these erotic scenes are rendered as etched line drawings on carved bone panels. Strung together with silk cord, the ten panels each depict a pair of lovers in a different erotic situation - some in risqué outdoor settings and others in distinctly Qing-dynasty interiors.