Antique & Vintage Postcards

Draped across a rocky ledge beneath wind-swept pine boughs, a magnificent tiger gazes upward with golden eyes — alert, regal, utterly at ease with its own power — in this richly detailed Chinese ink-and-wash painting that graced a 1986 New Year postal stationery card issued by China Post for the Year of the Tiger. The artwork is by Liu, a beloved 20th-century master of traditional Chinese animal painting whose tigers became iconic in the People's Republic; his red seal and brushed name are visible at upper right. The card's back carries a pre-printed 4-fen stamp in amber-gold featuring a stylized mythical beast — a dramatic departure from the ox papercut stamps of the previous year's set — and the vertical red New Year greeting 恭贺新禧 printed in seal-script style, lending the reverse an elegant antiquarian charm.