'Ancient Chinese Paintings by Giuseppe Castiglione, Qing Dynasty' - Taiwan, 2017

'Ancient Chinese Paintings by Giuseppe Castiglione, Qing Dynasty', posted on Oct 8th, 2015 from Taiwan to Shenzhen, with special and first day postmarks. The first two are official FDCs and the latter two are white covers.

Giuseppe Castiglione (郎世宁) was a prominent Italian painter, who served in the imperial court during Qing Dynasty's ascend to her peak. His paintings, which fuse the western skill with oriental culture, were well-regarded by the emperors he served, including Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong. In addition, he was the architect in charge of designing the western-styled Old Summer Palace, which was looted and burned by the British and French armies in 1859.

The Changhua Post has issued several sets of stamps with Giuseppe Castiglione's paintings, including the 'Eight Prized Horses Paintings Postage Stamps' in 1973, the 'Peacocks' in 1991, this set in 2015, and the 'Flowers and Birds' in 2016 and 2017.