Page 144 - Bonhams Cornette Saint Cyr, Property from the estate of Jean-Pierre Rousset (1936-2021)

Jean-Pierre Rousset’s Paris apartment

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PEINTURE REPRÉSENTANT UNE DAME DE COUR ET SA
SERVANTE
Probablement dynastie Ming (1368-1644) ou antérieur
A PAINTING OF A COURT LADY AND LADY-ATTENDANT
Probably Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) or earlier
Ink and pigment on silk, with apocryphal seal of Song emperor
Huizong, reading Neifu tushu zhi yin on the top left, seal of Jin dynasty
emperor Zhangzong, reading Mingchang Yulan, collector’s seal lower
right reading Nanchang wanshi zhencang, framed and glazed.
135cm (53in) long x 56cm (22in) wide.

€20,000 - 30,000
Provenance:
Robert Rousset, Paris (1901-1981), acquired prior to 1935
Jean-Pierre Rousset, Paris (1936-2021)

The present lot depicts an elegant Court lady holding in her hand a In the centre of the painting is a spurious seal reading ‘Mingchang
sheng or free-reed wind instrument, seated outside beside a gnarled Yulan’, seal of the Jin emperor Zhangzong (r.1188–1208). Emperor
rock issuing peony. Behind her stands an attendant draped in green Zhangzong attempted to supersede the former Song emperor Huizong
robes, the relatively large size of the lady indicates her importance as an art connoisseur and inherited a large collection of art which
compared to the smaller attendant. he inscribed or attached his seal to. See the painting, for example,
of ‘Lady Guoguo’s Spring Outing’, attributed to Zhang Xuan, where
The Court lady wears an elaborate headdress with seven phoenix, emperor Zhangzong added the three characters ‘Tian shuimo’, which
perhaps indicating that this is Bixia Yuanjun, the primordial sovereign of actually belonged to Huizong; see Three Thousand Years of Chinese
the dawn clouds, or Lady of Mount Tai. In Daoism, she is considered Painting, Yale, 1997, p.77. Another collector’s seal on the bottom right
not only the Goddess of Mount Tai, but also of childbirth and destiny. reads ‘Nanchang wanshi zhencang’ which likely belonged to Wan
She became an important deity particularly in the north of China during Chengzi 萬承紫(1775-1837). In the upper left is another apocryphal
the Ming and Qing dynasties. seal reading ‘Neifu tushu zhi yin’ (內府圖書之印 ‘Seal for Painting and
Calligraphy of the Palace Storehouses’), the seal of Emperor Huizong.
The detail of the clothes is particularly magnificent. The Lady is clad in
gorgeously decorated robes detailed with a Daoist Immortal carrying a Although the painting echoes the work of Tang dynasty painter,
staff from which hangs a double-gourd containing an elixir, and facing Zhou Fang, and his ‘Court Ladies Wearing Flowered Headdresses’,
a crane and tortoise, symbols of longevity. This again would seem to illustrated in Wei Jin zhi Wudai huihua, Shijiazhuang, 2003, pp.86-87,
indicate that the figure is a deity or connected to Daoism. with their large chignons and elaborate headdresses, the style of the
painting would suggest a a later date. See for example, related figures
of ladies in a Daoist wall painting ‘Homage to the Highest Power’,
originally from the Longmen Monastery in Shanxi Province, c.1300, in
the Royal Ontario Museum (acc.no.933.6.3).
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