A LARGE WHITE 'TAIHU' ROCK QING DYNASTY

the chalky white, porous and pitted surface pierced with holes, wooden stand, together with an ink painting on paper by Liu Dan, with one seal of the artist, framed, wood stand

Rock: My Humble House, Taipei, circa 1991.
Painting: Gift from the artist, 1995. 

Apart from a couple of expected chips and restored breaks, the overall condition is very good. The tip of the "wave crest" on the top front section was broken and re-stuck. In the top middle section, there is a 3cm chip.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The painting is signed:
Work of Liu Dan (b. 1953) from Jinling in the ninth month of the jihai year (1995)

Lu Dan was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, into a scholarly family that educated him and his siblings in philosophy, poetry, painting and calligraphy. His main teacher was his grandfather who taught him calligraphy because he believed that calligraphy distinguished an ordinary 'man' from the 'gentleman'. It was a mark of a true scholar-artist. In 1966, during Mao's Cultural Revolution, Liu was sent to the countryside where he worked as a farmer on the paddy fields. Despite the hardships, he continued drawing and writing poems and calligraphy. With the ending of the Cultural Revolution, he enrolled in the newly opened Jiangsu Academy of Chinese Painting where he was a student between 1978 and 1981. At the academy he learnt the art of traditional Chinese ink-painting, as well as Western painting. Upon graduation, he moved to New York in 1992, where he remained for the next 25 years developing and perfecting his own distinguished painting style. Liu is the master of monumental landscapes and rocks that transcend the boundaries between Chinese and Western style painting. His compositions are powerful yet delicate and elegant at the same time. Working within the framework of traditional materials, formats and subjects, Liu's work is set apart from traditional Chinese ink painting. They are not copies of the great masters of the past, but are 21st century innovative masterpieces. Liu shows great admiration and respect for the classical tradition, however, in his work he has taken the essence and has managed to revitalize and rescue something that was fast becoming stagnant and languished from the past.

Liu Dan's works have been included in a number of exhibitions such as the exhibition Outside In: Chinese X American X Contemporary Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, 2009; and in the exhibition The Chinese Landscape: Recent Acquisitions, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 2006.