A painting of Samantabhadra on an Elephant


19th centuryInk and color on silk, framed and glazed. 114.3cm (45in) long x 66cm (26in) wide.
|十九世紀 普賢菩薩像 絹本設色 鏡框裝裱Provenance: a European private collection來源：歐洲私人收藏A native of Pordenone in the northeastern Italian regent of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Girolamo Varaschini (1899-1954) was a trustee of the Italian Chemical Industry Chatillon, later renamed Italraion and Snia Vicosa. Between 1932 and 1936, he lived and worked in Shanghai as representative of his Italian company and in 1937, following the Sino-Japanese war, was transferred to Dairen in Southern Manchuria. After a brief period spent in Italy in 1938, Varaschini returned to Shanghai where he lived between 1939 and 1940. He then moved to Beijing where he lived between 1941 and 1946 and formed the vast majority of his collection of Chinese Art, which was partially included in a comprehensive exhibition of Chinese Art in Venice in 1954.