AN IMPERIAL 'LANDSCAPE' HANDSCROLL QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD, DATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH 1746

handscroll, ink on paper with a silk brocade wrapper and a jade fastener incised in clerical script with the characters Qianlong yubi qiu shan tingzi (‘pavilion among autumn mountains in the Imperial hand of the Qianlong Emperor’), the frontispiece entitled jihuai qingkuang (‘a devoted heart frees one’s mind’) in running script and impressed with the seal Qianlong chenhan ('by the very brush of the Qianlong Emperor'), all enclosed within a meticulously drawn foliate scroll border, followed by a riverscape with a secluded pavilion amidst luxuriant autumn scenery set on mountainous cliffs and verdant trees, inscribed in regular script with eleven characters reading Qianlong bingyin xinchun Chonghuagong shibi (‘painted at the Palace of Double Brilliance at the beginning of the bingyin year of the Qianlong period’, corresponding to 1746), with eight additional seals of the Qianlong Emperor including shiqu baoji suo cang  ('The Precious Collection of the Stone Canal Pavilion'), and three collector's seals, woven silk brocade case

Collection of Weng Tonghe (1830-1904, colophon).
Collection of Lin Xiongguang (1897-1971, seals).

Collection ten I – Kougana bunjinno sekai – Minshinno kaiga to shoseki, bunbougu [Morisada Hosokawa Collection exhibition I – The World of a refined writer – Paintings, calligraphy and stationery in Ming and Qing Dynasty], Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, Kumamoto, 1992, cat. no. 21.

‘Jiuzhou qingyan yi [Palace of Peace in the Nine Regions, part 1]’, Qinding shiqu baoji xubian [Sequel to the Precious Collection of the Stone Canal Pavilion], vol. 78, n.p.

There is rubbing and age damage to the title of the brocade wrapper, slightly obscuring the second character. As visible in the catalogue photo, there are several vertical crease marks where the scroll was folded. This is particularly acute in the middle of the landscape. Minor mould stains, especially at the edges. Rubbing to detail. The jade fastener is in good condition.
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As recorded in the Shiqu baoji xubian, the Qianlong Emperor painted this scroll of “autumn mountains in mist, with a lone gazebo by the water” on jinlijian paper during New Year in 1746 in the Chonghuagong ('Palace of Double Brilliance'). Opening with layered peaks and the beautiful scenery along the facing banks of a river, the scroll continues with a riverside gazebo drawn in minimalist brushwork. The trees and rocks are rendered in an impressionistic xieyi style. Like the tranquil waves of the river, the composition swerves and develops in an elegant and subtly resonant way.

During his sixty-year reign, Qianlong distinguished himself with both civil and martial terms. He led his armies east and west to secure China’s borders and expand its territory, unifying vast territories into a single empire. His reference to his own “All-Complete Military Accomplishments” was no exaggeration. On the other hand, Qianlong also had an appreciation for cultural refinement. In his leisure he enjoyed poetry, calligraphy, and painting, as well as the connoisseurship of ancient artifacts. The innumerable extant poems by the emperor himself testify to his love of literati life.

The “many-treasure cabinets” (duobaoge) of the Qing imperial court often contained such miniature scroll paintings. See, for example, The All-Complete Qianlong: A Special Exhibition on the Aesthetic Tastes of the Qing Emperor Gaozong, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2013, nos. III-2.39 and III-2.40, p. 390-1. Embodying literary elegance and antique flavor, these treasure cabinets housed various fine art and craft objects, including paintings and calligraphy specifically designed to fit into them. The present scroll was possibly stored in a treasure cabinet along other artifacts in Jiuzhou Qingyan ('Palace of Peace in the Nine Regions').

The postscript colophon indicates that this scroll previously belonged to the famous Qing official Weng Tonghe (1830-1904), zi Shuping, hao Songchan, late hao Ping’an jushi. A native of Changshu, Jiangsu, Weng Tonghe earned the jinshi degree in 1856 and attained the posts of Secretary of the Ministries of Revenue and War, Director of the Censorate, and a member of the Grand Council. In his late career, he served in the Hongde Palace and as the tutor to the Tongzhi Emperor. An accomplished calligrapher, Weng Tonghe combined and transcended the styles of past masters to create his own bold and expansive oeuvre. He was one of the most renowned calligraphers of the late Qing, along with Weng Fanggang, Liu Yong, and Qian Feng.

The scroll also bears the collector’s seal of Baosongshi, the studio name of Lin Hongguang (1897), zi Lang’an. A member of the Lin Ben-yuan's family of Banqiao, Taiwan, he was born in Gulangyu in Xiamen and studied in Japan from a young age. He later returned to Taiwan as an entrepreneur, founding the Da Cheng Fire and Sea Insurance LLC and Asahi Constructions LLC. Lin Hongguang was passionate about painting and calligraphy and a skilled connoisseur. He amassed an impressive collection of Song and Yuan dynasty works, including Sun Setting over the Sea and Sky by Zhao Boju of the Southern Song, Sun Setting over a River Village by Li Pingfu of the Jin, Dusk Sun over a Fishing Village by Wang Lü of the Ming, and Returning Crows at Dusk. Because the titles of all four works contain the word “illumination” (zhao), Lin called his studio the 'Hall of the Four Illuminations' (Sizhaotang). After acquiring more Song-dynasty masterpieces, such as Xu Xi’s Cicadas and Butterflies, Mi Youren’s Riverscape, Li Gonglin’s Spring Feast, and Yan Wengui’s Travelers Among Summer Mountains, he renamed his studio Baosongshi, or 'Studio of Song Treasures'. Lin was the author of Records of Baosongshi.