Pith paper has been used as a decorative medium in China for at least one-and-a-half millennia, stretching back to the artificial flowers of the Jin Dynasty (265-420 CE), but it wasn’t until the early nineteenth-century that pith paper started to be used as the base for paintings.

Initially called ‘rice paper’ by the West, believing the material was in fact pulped rice, it was William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) who rightfully corrected the European assumption in 1852. Pith paper is made using the inner bark of the Tetrapanax papyrifer, or ‘rice paper plant’, and, by being a single segment of plant rather than milled or pulped natural fibres, produces a unique opaque effect when applied with paint, especially bodycolour.

In 1757 the Qianlong Emperor banned all European ships from entering any port other than Canton (Guangzhou). This ‘Canton System’, combined with the appetite of Western traders for easily portable depictions of Chinese people, places, and nature, concentrated pith paper painting production to the famous ‘Thirteen Hongs’ of Canton (Guangzhou) harbour for nearly a century. Some of the artists working out of the factories of Canton gained worldwide renown for their artistic prowess, including Lam Qua, Sunqua, Youqua, Zhou Peichun, Spoilum (Guan Zoulin), and Ting Qua (Guan Lianchang).

The Cantonese artists made full use of the hygroscopic qualities of pith in their works, which would cause a raising of the paper where the water of the paint was absorbed, to highlight their subjects and produce an almost three-dimensional effect. The paintings were then carefully mounted by tipping each corner and leaving loose edges protected by a covering silk border, which allowed the pith to flew naturally and protect it from warping. Despite these precautions pith paper is still a brittle substance, with cracking or splitting common, and is almost impossible to restore to its previous state once damaged.

By the 1840s the trade of export paintings was in decline. The First Opium War (1839-41) saw considerable damage to the factories of Canton and the subsequent Treaty of Nanking ended the ‘Canton System’, pushing the focus towards Hong Kong and Beijing. A fire in 1856 destroyed much of what remained in the way of studios and buildings on the old waterfront. The introduction of photography in 1846 and growing competition from the Japanese market exacerbated the domestic issues meaning that by the 1860s pith paper production was a fraction of what it had been a decade prior.

Pith paper is still produced, and used as a painting medium, today in China, with the most popular type being handmade flowers, just as it was 1500 years ago.

Written by Tomos Nutt, Travel & Exploration Specialist