Fratelli Treves Editori

This was a Milanese publisher with a knack for turning imported curios into local hits. In the 1890s they sold bright chromolithographs that promised “Chinese painting” but came with French signatures and Italian flourishes. Their prints look like postcards that never made it to the post, sweetly garish, slightly off. Hunt down The golden lotus in a flea market; the color alone will stop you.