Page 62 - Christies March 15 2017 Fujita Museum

It is interesting to note that four of the six handscrolls acquired by Yamanaka & Company, which are
respectively attributed to Zhao Lingrang, Wang Mian, Chen Rong and Li Gonglin, bear the same seal
of Gongqinwang yin (the seal of Prince Gong), which is diferent from the one that Prince Gong Yixin,
the sixth son of Emperor Daoguang, typically used, raising the question of whether it was perhaps a
seal of the second Prince Gong. There is no shortage of masterpieces in Prince Gong’s collection of
painting and calligraphy, such as Lu Ji’s Pingfu Tie from the Jin dynasty and Han Gan’s Night-Shining
White from the Tang dynasty. In the current group of six, Zhao Lingrang’s work bears a yuci seal
(Imperially bestowed) on top of the seal of Gongqinwang yin, suggesting that some of these works
might have been bestowed by the Dowager Empress Cixi.

THE COMPREHENSIVE ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE
OF CHINESE PAINTINGS: VOL.3 JAPANESE MUSEUM
COLLECTIONS COMPILED BY SUZUKI KEI ... FEATURES
36 PAINTINGS IN THE FUJITA COLLECTION FROM
THE TANG, FIVE, SONG, MING AND QING DYNASTIES,
INCLUDING THE THREE WORKS BY HAN GAN, ZHAO
LINGRANG AND CHEN RONG IN THE CURRENT
GROUP OF SIX.

During the Qianlong reign, the six classical paintings later acquired by Yamanaka & Company were
still kept in the imperial study. With the exception of Chen Rong’s Six Dragons, which is recorded in
Shiqu Baoji Xubian published in 1793, the remaining fve paintings are all documented in Shiqu Baoji
Chubian published in 1745. It is also worth noting that save for Washing Horses, which is attributed
to Zhao Mengfu and described as “secondary quality” in Shiqu Baoji, the other fve are all considered
of “superior quality", with Chen Rong’s Six Dragons being catalogued as zhenji shangdeng (a genuine
work of superior quality) on the inside of the scroll cover. As to Horse and Treaty of Bianqiao attributed
to Han Gan and Li Gonglin, respectively, no additional remarks are recorded in Shiqu Baoji Chubian,
which is hardly surprising as inscriptions and verifcation by Emperor Qianlong continued to be made
long after the publication of Shiqu Baoji Chubian. Four of the six Fujita paintings bear inscriptions
by Emperor Qianlong spanning more than half a century, with Washing Horses attributed to Zhao
Mengfu the earliest to be inscribed (1735, when Emperor Qianlong was still a prince), and Li Gonglin’s
Treaty of Bianqiao the last (1786). Of the many Qianlong seals found on these six works, the earliest
one is Baoqinwang bao (The treasure of Prince Bao), which the emperor often used while he was still
a prince, attached to Washing Horses and the latest one was Taishang huangdi (Emperor Emeritus),
which only came into use after his abdication, on Treaty of Bianqiao.

60 IMPORTANT CHINESE ART FROM THE FUJITA MUSEUM