Brushes with History: Chinese Old Master Paintings

Shen Feng (1686-1756)

‘Landscape after Wang Meng’ 1727

Hanging scroll, ink on paper
142 x 62 cm. (55 7/8 x 24 3/8 in.)

Inscription:
‘I have seen more than twenty paintings by the Woodcutter of Yellow Crane Mountain (Wang Meng). Among them we must regard the ‘Spring Dawn at Tan-t’ai’ in the collection of Wang Feng-ch’ang (Wang Shih-min) and ‘Dwelling in the Mountains on a Summer Day’ in the collection of T’ang Hsiao-lien as the best. Those who exhaust one year in investigating them to the very end, all of its aspects in great detail, will then be known as experienced and marvelous hands, for the common artists are unable to penetrate his profundities.

Shen Feng from Teng-ch’uan, two days after the first of the eighth lunar month, autumn of the year 1727.’

Artist’s seals:
Fan-min; Feng

Collector’s seal:
Mo-nan Ching-chien-ch’uan P’ing-sheng Hsin-shang

(See write up below.)

Wang Shih-ch’en [Wang Shichen] (17th-early 18th century)

‘Landscape after Chiang Shen’

Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
136.5 x 63 cm. (53 3/4 x 24 7/8 in.)

Inscription:
‘In the front hall are peonies. Passing through rain a guest came for pure conversation and to look at old master paintings. Our thoughts became free and untrammeled. There is nothing to surpass this. I spontaneously modeled this on the brush conception of Chiang Kuan-tao (Shen).
Wang Shih-ch’en of Wu–hsien.’

Artist’s seals:
Wang Shih-ch’en yin; Liang-fu

Colophon:
Ch’ien Tien (1741-1806)

Collectors’ seals:
Prince I (1686-1730)
Pi Lung (later 18th century)
and three others

(See write up below.)

Cheng Tai [Zheng Dai]
(paintings dated 1715-1759)

‘Su Shih Visiting the Elders at Hui-chou’

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
83 x 92 cm. (32 3/4 x 36 1/4 in.)

Inscription:
‘Painted by Cheng Tai, called the Mountain Man from Jui-shan, at the Persimmon Leaf Library.’

Artist’s seals:
Cheng Tai; Tsai-tung

Shen K’ai [Shen Kai] (mid-18th century)

‘Geese on Riverbank’ 1750

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
77 x 96 cm. (30 1/4 x 37 3/4 in.)

Inscription:
‘On a summer day of the year 1750, I followed the brush conception of a Northern Sung artist. Shen K’ai, called T’iao-nan.’

Artist’s seals:
Shen Tsung-k’ai yin; Tse-an

Japanese box inscription:
Dated 1910

Recent provenance:
Obata collection, Kyoto

Published:
Yoshiho Yonezawa and Chu Yoshizawa: Japanese Painting in the Literati Style, Heibonsha Survey of Japanese Art, Tokyo, 1974, fig. 159, p. 164;

Suzuki Kei, ed.: Chinese Paintings in Japanese Collections, Tokyo, 1983, vol. 4, p. 454, no. JP40-013.

Lo P’ing [Lo Ping] (1733-1799)

Fang Wan-i [Fang Wanyi] (1732-1779)

‘Blossoming Plum by Rock’

Fan, ink and color on paper
18 x 49.6 cm. (7 1/8 x 19 1/2 in.)

Inscriptions:
‘Liang-feng painted the blossoming plum and rock.’
‘Pai-lien added the vase and basin.’

Artist seals:
Lo P’ing ssu-yin; Pai-lien

Huang Hai (active mid 19th century)

‘Huang-shan Pines’ 1856

Hanging scroll, ink on paper
135.7 x 62.1 cm. (53 1/2 x 24 1/2 in.)

Inscription:
‘My house is on one of the thirty-six Fu-jung Peaks, the tops of which are layered in pines without end; I remember the fresh breezes on bright moon-lit nights, blowing everywhere through rising twisted-dragon (pines).

On the autumn day of the year 1856, painted by Huang Hai, called Wo-yun.’

Artist’s seals:
Huang Hai; Wo-yun Shu-hua; Wei-je chih-chia (‘The Studio of Only This’)

(See write up below.)

Wu Hsi-tsai [Wu Xizai] (1799-1870)

‘Wisteria & Rose’

Two album leaves, ink and color on paper
18 x 49.6 cm. (7 x 19 1/2 in.)

Inscriptions:
Wisteria: ‘For the smiling corrections of Master Pu-tung, Hsi-tsai.’

Rose: ‘Wu Hsi-tsai, called Jang-chih.’

Artist’s seal on each:
Wu Hsi-tsai

Colophon:
By Ch’en Yen-hua (chu-jen 1902) in 1932:’…Among Master Wu’s paintings these two leaves are superb and should be treasured. After Jang-chih (Wu Hsi-tsai), only Liang Kung-yueh (Liang Yen, b. 1864) in our district did flower paintings with a scholarly air. Today there is no one like Kung-yueh, and how much more is this true of Jang-chih?…’

Published:
James Cahill, et.al., Go Shoeseki Sai Hakuseki (Wu Ch’ang-shih Ch’i Pai-shih), Bunjinga suihen, vol. 10, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 99.

Recent provenance:
James Cahill, Berkeley