Page 50 - 2020 November 30 Bonhams Rev. Richard Fabian Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy Hong Kong

XIA LINGYI (1797-AFTER 1875)
A Qing dynasty female artist who used the studio name Lucheng
Nüshi, a native of Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. Her father was Xia Hui,
a master in bamboo painting. According to the local gazetteer Kun
Xin liangxian xuxiu hezhi, Xia “received home education and learned to
paint from an early age, and was particularly good at painting bushes
with light ink. She moved to Suzhou with her father during Emperor
Daoguang’s reign (1820-1850). Her calligraphy was still very neat
and graceful at her seventies, especially her regular scripts.” Though
relatively little is known about her as a female artist, a seal found on a
fan leaf of bamboos by her suggests that she was born in the year of
dingsi, which corresponds to Feb 1797 to Feb 1798 of the Gregorian
calendar). This fan leaf, currently in the collection of Suzhou Museum, is
a rare surviving work of hers. The delicate and graceful bamboos on it
resemble much those by her claimed ancestor Xia Chang (1388-1470),
a highly regarded bamboo painter in the Ming dynasty, revealing the
artistic techniques and styles that was passed down in the Xia family.

夏令儀（1797-1875後）
號鹿城女史，江蘇昆山人。其父夏翬，字羽谷，與父廷香及祖父大
易，俱以畫竹名世。令儀生平闕如，惟據《昆新兩縣續修合誌》，
「自幼承庭訓，學繪事，畫淡墨叢林尤擅長。道光年間隨父移居蘇
郡，年七旬餘，畫猶工致娟秀，並工楷書。」 蘇州博物館藏有其所作
金箋扇面一幀，左下角有朱文長方印曰「丁巳生」，據此推知其生於
西曆1797-98年間。該扇面署光緒元年（1875），時鹿城女史已近八
秩高齡。所繪清雅脫俗，與其高祖夏昶（1388-1470）一脈相承，可
見崑山夏氏家族之傳承。

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