LIU E (active ca. 1820-1860)

Estimated Value:

1.500 € - 2.500 €

Schätzpreis:

5.000 €

Description:

China, frontispiece dated 1895
39,3 x 478 cm
Elegant Gathering of One Hundred Elders. Frontispiece dated 1895, Handscroll, ink and colors on paper. On the frontispiece title in regular script: “Elegant Gathering of One Hundred Elders”, signed: “In the spring of the yiwei year (1895) respectfully inscribed by You Ziping”. One seal: “You Ziping yin”. At the end of the painting two seals of the painter: „Seal of Liu E” (Liu E zhi yin), “Songxi”. Nine collector’s seals at the beginning of the scroll: “Prince Chun“ (Chun Qinwang), “Inspected by the master of the Tui’an Studio” (Tui’an zhuren yue) etc.
From a private collection in southern Germany, mostly acquired in Hong Kong and Jakarta in the 1960s/1970s
Prince Chun (1840-1891) was the seventh son of the Daoguang emperor (r. 1821-1850) and the father of the Guangxu emperor (r. 1875-1908). His wife was the younger sister of the Empress Dowager Cixi. When he was responsible for the construction of a modern Chinese navy, most of the funds was used for building the new summer palace of the Empress Dowager. Liu E, with the style name Songxi, was active during the Daoguang and Xianfeng periods (1821-1861).
The extraordinary long handscroll is a typical example of a painting intended as a birthday gift. One hundred old men, all vividly and humorously depicted, are shown gathering in a large garden furnished with rocks, waterfalls, bamboo and pines. They engage in scholarly activities like doing calligraphy, playing the lute and looking at paintings, and also handling symbols of long life like collecting fungi of long life (Lingzhi), playing with deer and catching tortoises. They drink wine and pure water from a clear stream and amuse themselves with discussions and games. At the end of the painting they are sitting in a studio building at the shore of a lake and fishermen in two boats are greeting them. The landscape elements and the figures are done in a fresh, almost sketchy manner with the faces and arms slightly shaded in light color in the characteristic style of the middle and late nineteenth century

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