Page 136 - Chinese Works of Art Bonhams Sept 2015

8158

8158 傳史可法 史閣部小像 設色紙本 手卷
ATTRIBUTED TO SHI KEFA (1601-1645)
Letter and portrait The late Ming loyalist Shi Kefa met his demise in a heroic yet futile attempt
Horizontal handscroll, comprised of a frontispiece of four characters in to hold off the encroaching Qing army on the city of Yangzhou. After the
running script reading Bao Wei Zhong Hun, ink on yellow paper with city fell, and he refused to join the Manchu forces he was beheaded by
painted dragons amid clouds, with a seal of the Qianlong emperor; the prince Dodo. Shi Kefa’s deep seeded loyalty to the Ming resonated for
followed by a portrait of Shi Kefa, ink and color on paper, unsigned; generations, with the Qianlong emperor bestowing posthumous honors,
with Shi Kefa’s purported last letter to his family, ink on paper, with two granting him the name Zhongzheng (loyal and upright).
calligrapher’s seals and two collector’s seals, followed by an honorific
inscription dated Qianlong dingyou (1777) and signed yu bi (imperial Several versions of Shi Kefa’s portrait, often mounted together with
brush) with three calligraphers’ seals. the last letter to his family and the Qianlong inscription are extent. A
13 1/4 x 29 3/4 (33.6 x 75.5cm), the frontispiece recent version was sold at Christie’s New York A Connoisseur’s vision:
6 x 10 3/4in (15.2 x 27.3cm), the portrait Property from the Xu Hanqing collection, 15 September 2011, lot 235.
5 1/4 x 10 1/4in (13.3 x 26cm), the letter
13 1/4 x 20 1/2in (33.6 x 52cm), the inscription
$4,000 - 6,000

134 | BONHAMS