Page 183 - Christie's Fine Chiense Works of Art November 2018 London

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ANONYMOUS, MING (1368-1644)
Cats and Butterfies
Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on silk
23.æ x 38 in. (60.4 x 96.5 cm.)
£10,000-15,000 $14,000-20,000
€12,000-17,000
This work exemplifes a popular style of Ming painting developed from
techniques established in the Song dynasty by imperial court artist Li Di
(active 12th c.) (fg. 1). The plump contours of the cats’ bodies are evoked
with difuse colour washes, and their soft-textured fur is then meticulously
rendered in painstaking brushwork. The pairing of cats and butterfies is a
pun that wishes the viewer or recipient of the painting a long life, as cats and
butterfies, maodie, is a rebus for a venerable and elderly person.
明 佚名 耄耋圖 設色絹本 鏡框 Fig. 1 . The Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
圖1 臺北國立故宮博物院藏品
鈴印：萬曆御覽之寶、一印漫漶
此畫仿宋代宮廷畫家李迪的筆法（見圖1）。

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