Page 189 - Bonhams Chinese Works of Art December 2014

8357

8356 Property from the collection of Huang Gaonian
Anonymous (Qing dynasty, 18th century) (1899-1953)
A Ming-style painting of a phoenix beneath a wutong tree
Ink and color on silk, laid down on board; depicting a long-tailed 8357
phoenix standing on a rock nestled among bamboo and camellias, Dai Xi (1801-1860)
with one leg raised against turbulent waves, all under the spreading Twelve Landscapes, 1839
branches and leaves of a wutong tree, with two seals at the upper left A set of twelve album leaves, each ink on silk; each inscribed, the
and one seal at the lower right. twelfth leaf dated jihai chun xia jian (1839, between spring and
68 3/8 x 36 7/8in (173.7 x 93.7cm) summer), dedicated to Jiapu, signed Dai Xi, and with fourteen seals
$15,000 - 20,000 variously reading Chunshi (6), Dai Xi (2) and he bi jian dai (6).
8 1/4 x 13in (21 x 33in) each
佚名 清 鳳凰圖 設色絹本 鏡片 $8,000 - 12,000

Painters of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and later often represented 戴熙 仿古山水 水墨絹本 册 頁十二開 一八三九年作
the divine phoenix as a political symbol of the righteous official. The
magnificent phoenix in this lot is depicted standing upright under
a wutong tree and with bamboo leaves scattered near its feet. The
inclusion of both plants strengthens the association of the phoenix
with the sagacious official who faithfully serves the benevolent ruler, as
the bamboo bends but does not easily break, while the classic Shijing
(Book of Songs) claims that the phoenix, known as the first among
birds, only resides in the best tree, the wutong.

This lot compares favorably to another Qing dynasty painting of a
phoenix standing against a background of turbulent waves, from the
collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington (Phoenix,
18th century, Seattle Art Museum, 34.180, reproduced in Hou-mei
Sung, Decoded Messages: the symbolic language of Chinese animal
painting, Cincinnati Art Museum, 2008, p. 116, cat. 44).

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