Page 84 - 2020 November 30 Bonhams Rev. Richard Fabian Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy Hong Kong

HU ZHANG (1848-1899)
Courtesy name Tiemei, sobriquet Yaochengzi, Hu was a native of
Jiande (now Dongzhi county), Anhui Province. He was born into a
family of painters and scholars. His grandfather Hu Zheng was good
at landscapes, flowers and birds, while his father Hu Yin was famous
for calligraphy. Under such influence, Hu naturally became proficient
in poetry, calligraphy and painting. His contemporaries compare him
with Zheng Qian from the Tang Dynasty who excelled in these three
arts. Hu had been living in Shanghai for a long time and was known as
one of the “Sixty Shanghai School Masters”. He was particularly good
at painting landscapes, figures and flowers. He was of equal fame to
Wang Yemei in terms of plum blossom painting. Four of his paintings
have been included in the volume of “Supplementary Paintings by
Famous Masters” in the Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden.
Hu Zhang travelled to Japan in 1879 and lived there for seven years,
where he was highly respected for his paintings, and accumulated a
large group of followers. Besides teaching arts, he also investigated
politics, economy, culture and education in Japan, hoping to contribute
to the reform of China with his surveys. However, his study was not
received well by the court. Feeling much disappointed, Hu returned to
Japan and focused on art in his later years. He died and was buried in
Kobe, Japan.

胡璋（1848-1899）
字鐵梅，號堯城子。安徽建德（今東至縣）人。祖父胡正工山水花
鳥，父胡寅亦擅丹青，曾隨勝寶贊理軍務，與張鳴珂友善。胡璋幼承
庭訓，詩、書、畫皆精，尤工山水、花卉，齊名王冶梅，有「鐵梅能
腴，冶梅能瘦」之說。胡氏一八七九年抵東瀛，在日逗留七載，遍遊
京都、大阪，畫名甚噪，從遊者眾。除授業傳藝外，亦致力考察政經
文教，並匯書十余篇，以期歸國報效。回國後，所編之書卻「迄不得
達」，無可施展，遂返日專事丹青。卒葬神戶。

《清稗類鈔-藝術類二》載其於一八九六年在滬創辦〈蘇報〉及「古香
室」箋扇店。「古香室」是當時畫家們聚會的場所，任薰曾於此觀臨
古畫，任伯年經胡璋好友胡公壽介紹，亦在此安設筆硯。

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