World History of Male Love - Home Page Museum

 

gay chinese art


Under the Mulberry Tree

Panel from
Spring Flowers and
Autumn Moon.

Ming dynasty album.
Paint on paper.
Bertholet Collection,
Amsterdam.


click image to view
full panel





  The Bertholet collection

After graduating from art school (Amsterdam 1952), Ferdinand M. Bertholet  traveled extensively in Asia. During one of his journeys he came across an album of Chinese erotic pictures at a Hong Kong antique dealer’s. He was struck by the subtly romantic expression and the harmonious compositions and color schemes, and began to actively collect high-quality erotic art and porcelains. Despite the strict censorship exercised by the Chinese regime, he managed to amass a large number of pieces. The result is the biggest collection of Chinese erotica in the western world, comprising works dating from the Ming period to the Fourth of May Movement of 1919.

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