Page 88 - September 23 to 24 Important Chinese Art Christie's NYC

PROPERTY FROM THE INDIA HOUSE CLUB COLLECTION, NEW YORK
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A LARGE INK AND COLOR ON SILK PAINTING OF GUANDI The cartouche in the lower proper left corner includes the name Zhou
EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY Tiancheng, who is known to have served as one of the court translators
during the third year of the Shunzhi reign (1646). He was later placed in
Painted in ink and color on silk, the God of War is shown standing with his left
hand raised to hold his long beard and his right extended to hold his long blade. charge of the imperial silk factories in Suzhou and continued to be active into
He wears a long robe decorated in front with a leaping dragon and underneath the early Kangxi reign.
the armor decorated with lion-form epaulet on the shoulder, his hair is pulled
up and tied beneath a cloth cap, and his face has a fierce expression. The Guandi, also known as Guangong (Lord Guan), is reputed to be the military
painting is inscribed in a cartouche at the proper lower left corner, xing bu qi hero, Guanyu of the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220-280), who was killed
xin lang Zhou Tiancheng deng zao (made by court official translators including in battle along with his adopted son Guanping and his trusted general
Zhou Tiancheng). The painting is set within an elaborately carved gilt-wood Zhoucang in Jingzhou by the army of Sun Quan, the ruler of the state of
frame with commemorative panel reading `THIS CANTON CARVED FRAME Wu. The accounts of his superhuman abilities and incorruptible character
Presented to INDIA HOUSE by MR. W.E. BEMIS, One of the Governors', and are dramatized in the fourteenth-century historical novel, Sanguozhi yanyi
with inscriptions at either corner reading Zhao Sanyou zao (made by Zhao (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). The figure of Guandi underwent much
Sanyou) and Yuedong Sheng Yuan Chang Xi (Yuedong province Yuan Chang transformation in Chinese history from military hero to being deified as a
Xi [probably the name of the individual who commissioned the frame]). God of War. For further discussion on see J. Larson and R. Kerr, 'A Hero
Restored: the Conservation of Guan Di', Orientations, July 1991, pp. 28-34.
103 x 60Ω in. (261.6 x 153.7 cm.), including frame
The cult of Guandi was actively supported by the Ming Court and his image
$30,000-50,000 can be found in Court paintings, such as the large hanging scroll, Guan Yu
Captures an Enemy General by the early fifteenth-century painter Shang Xi,
illustrated by C. Clunas, Art in China, Oxford and New York, 1997, p. 70, fig.
PROVENANCE:
W.E. Bemis (d. 1915) Collection. 32. In the Qing period his popularity continued to grow, and he became an
Willard D. Straight (1880-1918) Collection, acquired before 1914. important deity for both Daoist and Buddhist devotees.

紐約 INDIA HOUSE 俱樂部珍藏
清初 十七世紀 絹本設色 關聖帝君立像
來源：
W.E. Bemis (1915年逝) 珍藏。
Willard D. Straight (1880-1918年) 珍藏, 1914年以前入藏。

(inscriptions on frame)

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