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Lot 306
LITERARY GATHERING IN A SPRING GARDEN
Estimated Value:
3.000 € - 5.000 €
Schätzpreis:
3.000 €
Description:
China, 16th/ 17th c.127 x 61,8 cm
Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk. Two seals of the famous collector Xiang Yuanbian (1525-1590): “Tianlaige”, “Zisun yong bao”. Two more collectors’ seals: “…suo de shenpin”, "ba qian juan lou cang shu zhi ji”. In a garden full of blossoming plum trees nine scholars are depicted engaged in scholarly activities. Six are gathering around a large stone table drinking wine and looking with interest at a scroll. Two are shown doing calligraphy at another smaller table. One of the scholars is just arriving accompanied by a boy servant carrying clothes and greeted by a servant with a lantern. A wooden bridge is crossing a water canal separating the garden from the outside. More lanterns are distributed around the table and a servant is holding a torch for a close looking at the scroll. Fantastic garden rocks and a banana tree define the typical south Chinese garden. Above it the cliffs and rocks of a towering mountain are visible in the blue and green style. The number of nine scholars reminds one of the famous gathering of eighteen scholars in the year 626 which the future Emperor Taizong (reg. 626-649) of the Tang dynasty arranged and commissioned to be painted by Yan Liben (ca. 600-673). In this case a second hanging scroll with nine scholars would have formed a set with this one. The costumes of the scholars are also close to the Tang dynasty. The painting is a quite free copy of this composition and may have been executed in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The figures have some curiously painted details bur are depicted quite natural and lively. The costumes are uniformly colored in blue, green or white.
Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia, acquired before 2007
Minor damages due to age
