Chinese Beauties at a Banquet

In this first image. To the far left there is a house on the water, white roof with blue border, red curtain. The roof is an improvement. There on a river delta they seem to be playing musical instruments, there in a building full of musicians, housekeepers, maids, who appear to be serving food or playing rock-paper-scissors. Maybe it could be a spa for the rich. I see a lot of characters with different outfits. For example, I can tell that the queen is sitting on the right side of the photo, that she is reading the newspaper wearing a long dress with hairpins and some patterned fabric in her hair. The other two women, one holding a fan, the other holding a lamp, were also dressed simply with briefcases and hairpins. In the middle of the image, people are wearing different dresses, but the textures and colors are also different. I think they show meaningful fashion and hairstyles.

Yen Chau Image Courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago