Antique Chinese Gouache Painting of Two Figures with Cart on Pith Paper, Signed

Such 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 cellular tissue found in the stem of a small tree called Tetrapanax Papyrifera, native to south-west China. Pith paintings typically depicted local subjects such as cultivated flora, indigenous birds and insects, and local trades, customs and costumes. This one I believe would be referred to as an "occupational" painting, featuring two workers using a Chinese wheelbarrow--distinct from European wheelbarrows in its design, with one large wheel in the middle of the vehicle, enabling the carriage of much greater weight. The figures, in their