Page 207 - Bonhams Chinese Works of Art December 2014

Property from the Collection of Huang Gaonian
(1899-1953)

8396
Huang Junbi (1898-1991)
Mount Emei Landscape, 1940
Folding fan leaf, mounted, ink and color on paper; inscribed,
dedicated to Guo’an, dated gengchen xia ri (1940, summer) and
signed Huang Junbi with one seal of the artist reading Junbi.
9 1/4 x 19 7/8in (23.5 x 50.5cm)
$3,500 - 5,000

黄君璧 峨嵋山 設色紙本 扇面 鏡片 一九四〇年作 8396

Provenance
gifted by Du Guo’an to Huang Gaonian, thereafter by descent

Note:
The dedication to Guo’an wo xiong (my brother Guo’an) refers to Du
Guo’an (杜果安, active 1930s-1950s), a native of Guangdong province
who was active as a calligrapher and teacher in Hong Kong during the
1950s. Du was particularly known for his zhangcao 章草 calligraphy.
Du appeared to have been close to Huang Junbi and his students,
as Huang dedicated a number of paintings to Du, and during a
1943 gathering of Huang with his students, Du wrote an inscription
celebrating a collaborative painting by Huang’s students.

The artist’s inscription describes a return visit to Mount Emei
undertaken with Zhang Daqian (noted in “Chronology of Chang Dai-
chien”, in Shen C. Y. Fu, Challenging the Past: the Paintings of Chang
Dai-chien, Smithsonian Institution, 1991, p. 81, as taking place in
1939). The two painters gazed at the magnificent peaks of Emei, two
of which Huang named Zifoding and Meifoding.

8397
Huang Junbi (1898-1991)
Scholar Contemplating Waterfall Landscape, 1946
Folding fan leaf, mounted, ink and color on paper; inscribed with the
title Guo Lao fu shu, dated bingyin chu xia (1946, early summer) and
signed Junbi with two artist’s seals reading Huang shi and Junbi.
9 1/2 x 19 3/4in (24.2 x 50.2cm)
$3,500 - 5,000

黄君璧 果老拂暑 設色紙本 扇面 鏡片 一九四六年作

Provenance 8397
gifted by Du Guo’an to Huang Gaonian, thereafter by descent

Note
The Guo Lao in the four-character title is an honorific for Du Guo’an (
杜果安, active 1930s-1950s), a fellow painter and calligrapher from
Guangdong province. See the previous lot for another folding fan
painting dedicated to Du Guo’an.

Huang Gaonian (黄高年, 1899-1953), a native of Guangdong Xinhui,
was a celebrated seal-carver, equally skilled in carving crystal, jade,
bronze, ivory, stone, and bamboo seals. He was active in the painter
and seal-carver circles of Guangzhou and Tianjin during the 1930s
and 1940s, and was as highly regarded as such famous seal carvers
as Qi Baishi, Wang Fuhan, and Feng Kanghou. Huang collected and
studied ancient seals, and his carving styles reflected his study of Han
seal script. His publications on seal-carving include zhi yin guan jian lu
and Huang Gaonian cang gu yin 《治印管見錄》, 《黄高年藏古印》.
Huang also collaborated on paintings with such notable Guangdong
painters as Zhao Shao’ang, Yang Shanshen, and Liang Boyu.

FINE Chinese Works of Art | 205