Page 413 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 London

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Remembering Class Bitterness
1967-1968
The red lacquer base carved and inlaid with soapstone and other Designed by Liu Xiangdi
materials to depict a group of farmers training to become barefoot Made by Senior Master Wang Chunming
doctors, receiving basic medical training, a medical bag with red This plaque took approximately 15 months to design and make from
cross by the feet of one of the farmers, one man opening his shirt 1967-1968. It is made up of relief carvings made from semi-precious
demonstrating on himself, framed. stones, and the bright red of the ‘Little Red Books’ and the First Aid
124.5cm x 81.3cm (49in x 32in) cross are made from plastic. In 1968 this plastic was more rare and
£15,000 - 25,000 more costly than the semi-precious stones used elsewhere in the
HK$190,000 - 310,000 CNY150,000 - 250,000 plaque.
The Red Guard, acting as cadre leader, is extolling the virtues of
1967-1968年 紅漆嵌百寶「憶階級鬥爭」圖板 Chairman Mao and the class struggle. Daily political studies were
an important part of political consciousness during the Cultural
Provenance: produced at Yangzhou and exhibited in China until Revolution, During the Cultural Revolution, over 16 million educated
the end of the Cultural Revolution, and then placed in storage at the youths were sent to settle in the countryside. The young student
No.1 State Lacquer Factory in Yangzhou with the First Aid bag is one of the ‘barefoot doctors’ who were
Exhibited at the Olympia Fine Arts and Antiques Fair, New Art from much praised at this time. Many of the students were just one or
Ancient China - Lacquer from Yangzhou, November 1998 two years into their training at university when they were sent to the
A British private collection countryside to replace the established doctors who had been purged
as reactionaries of the old order. With little or no medical experience,
來源：產於揚州，一直在中國出展直到文化大革命結束，後存在揚州 they provided simple first aid care in those areas without access to
第一漆廠的儲存室 hospitals.
1998年11月出展於奧林比亞藝術及古董博覽會的《New Art from
Ancient China - lacquer from Yangzhou》展覽
英國私人收藏

Fine Chinese art | 407