Chinese Erotic Finely Carved, Engraved and Polychrome Painted Soapstone Panel depicting an erotic scene

Period: 1700-1800

Origin: China

Medium: polychrome, Soapstone

Literature: The people of ancient China were fond of making love. They saw it as a way of harmonising the energies of heaven and earth, and thus of continuing nature’s cycle of creation. So love became an art, the art of living, and very early on Chinese treatises appeared in which sexual positions and techniques were described in practical terms and with a wealth of detail. It was also an integral part of Chinese religion and the Taoists combined sexual practices with their techniques of meditation.