Page 50 - Christie's Fine Cinese Classical Paintings, May 31 to June 1, 2023 Hong Kong

Confidant across Five Hundred Years –

Qiu Ying’s Celestial Mountains and Pavilions
from the Dafeng Tang Collection

While the anecdotes about Zhang Daqian’s travel, Yucen (1899-1935). In the 1940s Zhang had to sell
paintings and love of food have long been relished, paintings to repay loans for his Dunhuang trips so
few has been mentioned about his sumptuous Wang possibly purchased this work from Zhang.
collection of Chinese paintings. Zhang said
proudly in 1954: Celestial Mountains and Pavilions was apparently
cherished by Zhang Daqian and his brother Zhang
“They praise my paintings for the uniqueness Shanzi, as eight out of ten collector’s seals found
across five hundred years, yet my art at the bottom left and right of this hanging scroll
connoisseurship is good enough to be endorsed belonged to them.
by Molin, Qingbiao, Yizhou and Xu Zhai.
Throughout these five hundred years, I dare to Painted in 1550, Celestial Mountains and Pavilions
say there has been nobody who had achieved was a late work of Qiu Ying. Its composition,
the same level of connoisseurship like me!” gongbi or meticulous brush execution and colour
techniques echoed those of an early version of the
In no doubt Zhang’s paintings have been highly same painting by the artist, now in the National
and widely recognized. To examine his exquisite Palace Museum collection in Taipei. Starting from
eye on Chinese Classical paintings and calligraphy the top with peaks in the background rendered in
that he boasted superior to that of the famous gradations of ink washes, the mountains in the
collectors like Xiang Yuanbian (Molin), Liang foreground were outlined with crisp and vigorous
Qingbiao, An Qi (Yizhou) and Pang Yuanji (Xu brushstrokes, faintly coloured in azurite and ochre
Zhai), one can study any item from his Dafeng and dotted with trees. In the mid-section of the
Tang (The Great Wind Hall) collection, such as painting, amidst clouds and haze there existed
Landscape and Calligraphy by Bada Shanren sold pavilions in the undulating pine valleys: on the left
at Christie’s Hong Kong in autumn 2018 and a scholar was resting on a daybed while admiring
recorded in Masterpieces from the collection of Dafeng the scenery; the flowing water led to a stone bridge
Tang, Vol. 3. where a servant carrying a qin was approaching his
master; inside the pavilion on the right two seated
Dafeng Tang collection of Classical paintings and gentlemen were playing chess, accompanied by the
calligraphy is one of the very few outstanding cranes and trees in the open space, as well as the
collections in modern times. According to the sound of flowing water of the riverbank. This is a
chronology of Zhang Daqian, Zhang came back masterpiece of gongbi or meticulous brush oozing
from Dunhuang in 1943 and in December, he with literati vibes.
moved to Shangqing Palace of Mount Qingcheng
where the Dafeng Tang Calligraphy and Painting An artisan of lacquer with humble origins,
Catalogue was published. In spring 1944 on 15 Qiu Ying later became a student of Zhou Chen
March, the exhibition Paintings and Calligraphy (circa 1450-1535) and a professional painter in
from the Dafeng Tang Collection organised by the the Jiangnan area. Thanks to the patronage of
Sichuan Fine Arts Association commenced. Over art collectors Zhou Fenglai (1523-1555), Chen
170 works of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Guan (? – after 1557) and Xiang Yuanbian (1525-
periods were showcased in two sessions: 15- 1590), he copied and learnt from the Song and
17 March and 18–20 March, due to the space Yuan paintings in their collections and eventually
constraint of the venue (see Fig.1). At that time became one of the Four Masters of the Wu School.
it was so rare to have an exhibition on Classical According to Wen Zhengming, Qiu Ying’s
paintings and calligraphy of a private collection painting made him feel ashamed. Some of Qiu’s
that visitors flocked in with their admission tickets. paintings had inscriptions by his contemporaries
Tang Yin, Peng Nian, Wen Jia and Lu Shidao etc.
In the first session from 15–17 March, three works that testified their friendships.
by Qiu Ying (circa 1495-1552) were exhibited,
including No.38 Celestial Mountains and Pavilions Zhang Daqian’s early life experience resonates with
(Lot 836). This painting was well known to the art that of Qiu Ying: his mother and sister taught him
collectors and connoisseurs, as it was first recorded how to paint when he was a boy, then he went to
in Dafeng Tang Calligraphy and Painting Catalogue Japan to study dyeing and later became a professional
in 1943, then in Masterpieces from the collection of painter in China. Qiu Ying’s extant works are the
Dafeng Tang, Vol. 1 in 1947. The whereabouts of rarest amongst the Four Masters of the Wu School.
this painting was unknown until recently: it has This explains why Zhang imprinted seven collector’s
been revealed that it belonged to Wang Chunqu seals on the cherished Celestial Mountains and
(1901-1989) who passed it on to his descendants. Pavilions that he collected at young age. Standing
Wang was a pupil of Qian Mingshan (1875-1944) in front of this masterpiece, one can visualize such a
and a bosom friend of Zhang Daqian and Xie bonding across five hundred years.

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