A Brush with Chinese Tradition

A Brush with Chinese Tradition

• Dong Qichang, Chen Jiru, Poems in Running Script, ink on paper, album of twenty-two leaves (selected leaves). Estimate: $40,000 – 60,000.

  Calligraphy by Dong Qichang and Chen Jiru share a kinship of technical triumph and tremendous grace. Together they were major exponents of the Huating literati sensibility during the sixteenth century China.
  
  

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• Yuan Jiang, Inspecting Food for the Emperor, ink and color on silk, hanging scroll. Estimate: $100,000 – 120,000.

  Yuan Jiang is renowned for his meticulous palatial architecture paintings set in utopian landscapes. He sometimes utilized carpentry tools for precision. This painting was dated 1723, the first year of Emperor Yongzheng’s reign and the first year Yuan Jiang served in the imperial court as a painter in attendance.
  
  

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• Zou Zhe, Recluse Under Lofty Mountain, ink and color on silk, hanging scroll. Estimate: $60,000 – 80,000.

  Zou Zhe was considered one of the eight leading Jinling artists of the early Qing dynasty. This painting bears an inscription dedicated to Mr. Zhong Weng. Its theme, a scholar living in recluse within lofty mountains, carries good wishes to Mr. Zhong Weng for a peaceful retirement and long life. Once in the collection of the German art historian Dr. Victoria Contag.
  
  

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• Ju Jie, Green Mountain After Rain, ink on paper, hanging scroll. Estimate $ 30,000 – 50,000.

  Ju Jie was a disciple to the eminent calligrapher and painter Wen Zhengming. In this refined and captivating landscape , Ju Jie adhered to the style of his teacher through consummate brushwork and keen observation.
  
  

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• Huang Daozhou, Classic of Filial Piety in Regular Script, ink on paper, album of eighteen leaves (selected leaves). Estimate $100,000 – 150,000.

  The text of this album concerns advice on respectful behaviors towards someone senior or superior. Huang Daozhou was an official of the Ming court as well as a calligrapher and painter. When the Manchurian army overthrew Ming dynasty, Huang Daozhou refused to surrender and consequently faced his death. As such, he practiced the great virtues cultivated by the Classic of Filial Piety.
  
  

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• Hongli (Emperor Qianlong), Poems in Running Script, ink on gold dusted silk, set of four hanging scrolls. Estimate $320,000 – 450,000.

  Qianlong is one of the most celebrated emperors in Chinese history, not only because of his military and political accomplishments but also because we know so much about him as a charming poet and artist. This four panel calligraphy is a classical representation of his mature running script calligraphy executed around the age of sixties or seventies.
  
  

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• Huang Ruheng, Tu Long, Lou Jian, Li Liufang, Wang Zhideng, Wen Zhenmeng, Letters, ink on paper, album of 45 leaves (selected leaves). Estimate $120,000 – 160,000.

  This forty-five page album assembles together a selection of twenty-two letters written by six influential calligraphers from the late Ming dynasty, some pages are filled with affection and some pages are burdened with concerns. Emotions acknowledged in the content of the text find further expression in the calligraphy.
  
  

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• Fu Baoshi, Scholars Travelling at the Red Cliff, ink and color on paper, hanging scroll. Estimate: $400,000 – 600,000.

  This noble painting dating to 1961 takes its theme from a famous rhapsody by Su Shi, in which the poet describes his tour of the Red Cliff after banishmentfrom official service. The painting was created in 1961, soon after Fu Baoshi led a delegation of artists on a sketching expedition across China in September 1960.
  
  

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