Antique Chinese Gouache Painting of Two Figures with Cart on Pith Paper, SignedSuch a fine, beautiful thing! This is a 19th century Chinese painting executed in gouache on pith paper a type of paper (resembling rice paper) that came into use in China in the 1820s (reaching its heyday in the 1830s and 40s) as a means to satisfy the increasing demand for small, inexpensive and easily transported souvenirs, following the massive growth in the China Trade in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Pith paper was made from the