Page 96 - Bonhams Art from the Scholar's Studio, September 16, 2013 NY

8138

Property of a Rhode Island Collector

8138
Anonymous
Exorcising Demons, Ming dynasty
Ink and color on silk, laid on board, framed, with a six character inscription in seal script, along with
seven collectors’ or artist’s seals.
25 1/2 x 35in (64.5 x 89cm)
$8,000 - 12,000

明 無名氏 大儺圖 設色絹本 鏡片

Provenance:
Private Rhode Island collection

The scene depicts necromancers performing a ritual dance, referred to as Da Nuo Wu, which was
recorded in the Han dynasty as a means of combating plague. By the Song dynasty, the ritual had
taken on further significance, including guarding against evil spirits and safeguarding the harvest. The
present work was painted after a famed Northern Song original, currently held in the collection of the
Beijing Palace Museum. It reflects the Ming state’s interest in augmenting its own claims to legitimacy
through emulation and appropriation of the art of the Song, the previous ethnically Han dynasty.
The figures closely replicate those in the original Song work but have been re-arranged in their
orientations, and the extremely close similarities between the two paintings suggest that the painter
of the present piece had direct access to copy in the Beijing Palace Museum. A third version of the
composition, smaller in size and also in the Palace Museum, was produced by Qianlong court artists.

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