Untitled 

This painting, by Qiu Ying, probably dates to the mid-16th century, and would have been made with ink and color on silk. Note the artist's close attention to the tactile surfaces of everyday objects: the smooth, cool ceramic of the tea set, the woven texture of the fan, and the sheen of the silk clothing discarded on the floor. Look closely, and you can see that this work would have required painstaking labor, using fine brushes to build up layer upon layer of pigment. This level of finesse, particularly in the sensuous depiction of the female figure, suggests an elite patron. The image is not just about what is shown, but also how it is made. Here, the modes of production reflect a culture of connoisseurship, where the value of the artwork lies in the discernment of the patron. Paintings like this remind us that the concept of ‘fine art’ has always been entangled with social status, labor, and the economy.