A rather rare pair of Chinese export hand-painted wallpaper panels, rendered in gouache, one with a scene from tea production, the other representing one of the steps in porcelain production. These were most likely part of  more expansive continuous scenes depicting the processes of tea and porcelain production and were at some later point cut down and mounted as screen or decorative panels. The tea scene shows the packers being brought dried tea leaves as they stomp them into their packing crates; the porcelain scene represents one of the decorators workshops where the pieces were hand-painted before being fired, a laborer in the foreground bearing a yoke of firewood for the kiln. Both an extraordinary snapshot in time, beautifully rendered in warm colors and rich detail. Each measuring 58 1/2″ tall by 22 1/2″ wide and with the usual surface scuffs and abrasions and minor inpainting expected of pieces of this age, but in overall good and stable condition. Late 18th/early 19th century. Sold individually.