Page 239 - J.J. Lally Chinese Art CHRISTIE'S March 23 2023 NYC

~924 TWO FRAMED ‘DREAMSTONE’ 清十八 十九世紀ǭ詩文⒢畫兩幅
WALL PLAQUES 阮元（款）
SIGNED RUAN YUAN, 18TH-19TH CENTURY
款識：֬元題於↙∪մ館
The horizontal plaque is of warm ivory tone with black and grey
印文：「阮式⒢」 「↙∪僊館」 「⒢癖」 「阮式֬元Ⅷ藏」
markings and is inscribed with a lengthy poetic inscription in
running script. The vertical plaque is of ivory tone with muted Ϝ源
brown inclusions resembling a mountain range and is entitled shan 潘氏家族Ⅷ藏
約 至 年ջ於廣州入藏
後家族流傳
yi xiang qiu duo (mountain mood tends much towards autumn), 紐約צ士得
年 月 日
拍品編號
after a Jin dynasty poem by Yuan Haowen. It has two lengthy 藍理捷
紐約
inscriptions after the Yuan poet Gong Shitai (1298-1362) and the
展覽
Tang poet Ma Dai.
紐約
藍理捷
「雅ㅳ：中國文՞藝ワ」
年 月 日
Each: 23 x 18 in. (58.5 x 45.7 cm.), hardwood frames (2)
֨ḛ
$50,000-70,000 阮元
《⒢畫㉃》
卷Ն
光緒Ӳ年 年

頁 橫⒢畫詩文
藍理捷
《雅ㅳ：中國文՞藝ワ》
紐約
年
編號
PROVENANCE:
Poon Family Collection, acquired at Whampoa, Guangdong,
circa 1890-1920s, and thence by descent within the family. The poetic inscription on the horizontal panel is followed
Christie's New York, 15 September 2009, lot 248. by, Boyuan ti yu langhuan xian guan (Boyuan composed at the
J. J. Lally & Co., New York. Langhuan Hall of Immortals), followed by one seal of the
artist, Ruan shi shi (stone of Mr. Ruan), and with a second seal in
EXHIBITED:
New York, J. J. Lally & Co., Elegantly Made: Art for the Chinese the lower left corner reading, langhuan xian guan (Jade Garland
Literati, 13-27 March 2020. Immortals Hall). The inscription on the vertical panel is followed
by two seals reading shi and sheng (begotten in stone), and with two
LITERATURE:
artist’s seals at the bottom left corner reading shi pi (stone mania)
Ruan Yuan, Shi hua ji, vol. 5, Guangdong, Xue hai tang,
and Ruan shi boyuan zhen cang (treasured by Mr. Ruan Boyuan).
3rd year of Guangxu (1877), juan 4, p. 12b (inscription on
horizontal panel).
Ruan Yuan (1764-1849), zi Boyuan, hao Yuntai , was a well-known
J. J. Lally & Co., Elegantly Made: Art for the Chinese Literati, scholar-official and connoisseur-collector from Yizheng, Jiangsu
New York, 2020, no. 17.
province. His studio was called langhuan xian guan (Jade Garland
Immortals Hall). Ruan Yuan passed his jinshi examination in 1789
and was appointed to the Hanlin Academy the following year.
He was famous for his literary work, Biographies of Astronomers
and Mathematicians, and was a prolific scholar, writing on a wide
range of topics, including both ancient and contemporary arts.
Ruan Yuan also had a long official career, rising to the rank of
Grand Secretary.
Ruan Yuan had a special interest in writings found in bronze and
stone. He also excelled in the art of cutting, polishing and framing
marble selected for its dramatic natural markings, particularly
marble from Dali, Yunnan province, to create semi-abstract
imagery on panels which he called shihua (stone paintings). Ruan
Yuan wrote a treatise on marble panels of this type entitled Shi hua
ji (Commentary of Stone Paintings), recording a number of stone
panels he had inscribed, noting their texts and sizes. The horizontal
panel shown here is the first example which can be directly
associated with Ruan Yuan’s published record. (Fig. 1) It is
thought that the rest of his collection was likely lost when his estate
in Yangzhou was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion shortly
after his death.

A similar Dali marble ‘stone painting’ inscribed and signed by
Ruan Yuan is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
and is illustrated by D. Hart (ed.) in Museum of Stones: Ancient and
Contemporary Art at the Noguchi Museum, New York, 2016, p. 113,
no. 55. Another Dali marble panel, mounted as a table screen
inscribed and signed by Ruan Yuan, is in the collection of the
Minneapolis Institute of Arts and illustrated by R. Jacobsen and
N. Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture, Minneapolis, 1999,
pp. 210-211, no. 79.
Fig. 1 The text that appears on the horizontal panel, as recorded in
Ruan Yuan’s Shi hua ji, vol. 5, Guandong, Xue hai tang, 3 rd year of
Guangxu (1877), juan 4, p. 12b.

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