Page 17 - Bonhams UK Marsh Collection Art for the Literati November 2, 2022

Lot 20, a very rare wucai brushpot, Lot 23, a wucai ‘rise in official rank’ Lot 37, a rare and large famille verte
Chongzhen/Shunzhi jar and cover, Shunzhi ‘magpies and prunus’ brushpot,
Kangxi

Lot 34, a celadon-ground ‘Kui Xing’ Lot 2, a rare and large ‘ladies and ‘Ten Bamboo Studio Painting Manual’, Hu Zhengyan, Sixth Year of Chongz-
brushpot, Kangxi boys’ wucai dish, Shunzhi hen, Ming Dynasty (AD 1633). Cambridge University Library, UK, compared
with a bird from Lot 37 (middle)

1.2 Expressing Emotion Through Things in Literati Paintings

The late Ming and early Qing dynasties can be called an era of a representative of the Gu Shu School which was influenced
‘playthings’, and all sorts of crafts and art developed. To express more by Dong Qichang’s painting style, notably the use of dry
feelings under the guise of objects become a typical feature of the twisting brushwork that was thick and simple. The Wu School was
literati and the decoration even on common porcelain received represented most by Shen Zhou who depicted tranquil pictures with
unprecedented attention from literati. The literati guided the smooth lines. Moreover, there was also the Xuancheng School of
development and direction of porcelain painting based on the painting initiated by Mei Qing who employed varied brushstrokes, to
aesthetic principles of literati painting and most of the themes depict the hauntingly beautiful scenery of the Yellow Mountains. And
and motifs on porcelain loved by the literati were closely related then there were individualist painters such as Chen Hongshou whose
to their lives. For example, the late Ming dynasty saw a peak in unusual figures with elongated faces broke with the style of the Wu
the development of vernacular novels and operas. Characters School.
from novels and plays were thus often painted onto porcelain in
the medium of literati painting, expressing something akin to ‘life During this period, the various schools of painting collided with each
resembling drama’. In addition to drama, themes relating to the other, while styles and brushwork blended and influenced each other
Imperial civil service examination were also common on porcelain. despite different characteristics. At the same time, due to the highly
Thus we see things relating to ‘promotion’, ‘rising in rank’, and developed private publishing industry, printmaking also flourished.
Kui Xing the God of literature and examination success. These all Places such as Huizhou and Nanjing developed particularly strong
implicitly express the yearning of the literati to pass the exams and printing industries. Literati painting and printmaking strongly
enter government service. Lots 2, 3, 20, and 23, are all the best influenced each other. We can see that in the landscape painting
witnesses to the ambitious expectations of hopeful scholars from that of the Xin’an School. Another example of the cross-over between
era! literati painting and printmaking are the woodblock printed books by
Hu Zhengyan from Nanjing, who published the ‘Ten Bamboo Studio
2) The Influence of Literati Painting Techniques on Painting Manual’, which employs the brushwork of literati painting.
Porcelain Painting
By comparison, it can be said that Lot 37, a rare and large famille
The styles of literati painting in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties verte ‘magpies and prunus’ brushpot, Kangxi, whether it is the
were varied, with numerous different ‘schools’ of painting. For outline, the gestures, and expressions, as well as the harmony of the
example, Hongren and Zha Shibiao, were typical of the so-called cyan and ochre on the bird’s body, are all the same as those in ‘Ten
Xin’an School which advocated the sparse brushwork of the Yuan Bamboo Painting Manual’. The shades of green leaves in the flowers,
dynasty master Ni Zan, using drybrush techniques to create elegant the colour combination of red and green, and the vigorous strokes of
paintings of Anhui with subdued tones that combined both reality the branches are also very similar.
with abstraction. There was also Xiao Yuncong who is considered
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