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FROM THE COLLECTION OF PROFESSOR WEN FONG (LOTS 822-823)A towering figure in the history of Chinese art, Wen Fong (1930-2018) was born in Shanghai and earned his doctoral degree from Princeton University, where he taught Chinese art history from 1954 until his retirement in 1999. Concurrent with his contributions at Princeton, he served from 1971 to 2000 as a special consultant to the Department of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His vision shaped the Met’s collection of Asian art and drove important acquisitions, adding masterpieces to the Museum’s world-renowned collection. Professor Fong was a prolific scholar, educator and connoisseur who trained generations of art historians and contributed to seminal publications on Chinese art. Part of Professor Fong’s personal collection was offered by Christie’s in May 2016 and achieved exceptional results.
CHEN CHUN (1483-1544)
Flowers and Calligraphy
Details
CHEN CHUN (1483-1544)
Flowers and Calligraphy
Handscroll, ink on paper
26.7 x 403.9 cm. (10 1/2 x 159 in.)
Inscribed with six poems and signed, with seventeen seals of the artist
Dated spring day, jihai year (1539)
Eleven collector’s seals including four of Wang Wenbo (1659-1725), three of Chen Jide (19th Century) and two of Xu Wenbo (b.1931)
Colophon by Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), dated wuwu year (1918), signed with two seals
Frontispiece by Li Ruiqing (1867-1920), signed with four seals
Titleslip by Zeng Xi (1861-1930), dated wuwu year (1918), signed with one seal
NOTE:
Chen Chun (1483-1544) was one of the most influential flower painters of the Ming dynasty. Hailing from a prominent Suzhou family, he learned from the art of Shen Zhou (1427-1509) and Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) in his early years. His later intimate studies of branches and flowers, fully inspired by nature, are brilliant performances in brush and ink and penetrating portraits of the subjects. For Chen Chun, painting is an act of ink play from the heart. Together with Xu Wei (1521-1593), his expressionistic individualism transformed flower paintings for generations of artists that followed.
In the spring of 1539, while in the mood for wine, the fifty-six-year-old Chen Chun painted Flowers and Calligraphy on a boat in Suzhou. Measuring over four metres long, it depicts peony, magnolia, orchid, chrysanthemum, narcissus and camellia, each section separated by five-character quatrains inscribed by the artist. The colophon concludes that he painted the scroll in such an inebriated state that he could ‘no longer tell the beautiful from the ugly’. The ethereal flowers and branches are laid out with light ink then meticulously outlined, their colouristic beauty demonstrating the artist’s superb command of ink and wash. Li Ruiqing (1867-1920) praised the otherworldliness of Chen Chun’s brushstrokes in the frontispiece: ‘viewing this painting in summertime makes one feel like tasting ice and snow under plum blossoms.’
During the Kangxi period, Flowers and Calligraphy was in the collection of Wang Wenbo (1659-1725), a great book collector in Tongxiang. In late Qing, it was collected by the connoisseur Chen Jide. In 1918, Zeng Xi (1861-1930) inscribed the titleslip, followed by a long colophon by Wu Changshuo (1844-1927) dated June of the same year. It also bears the collector’s seals of Madame Xu Wenbo, wife of Zhang Daqian, further adding to its illustrious provenance.
Flowers and Calligraphy
Handscroll, ink on paper
26.7 x 403.9 cm. (10 1/2 x 159 in.)
Inscribed with six poems and signed, with seventeen seals of the artist
Dated spring day, jihai year (1539)
Eleven collector’s seals including four of Wang Wenbo (1659-1725), three of Chen Jide (19th Century) and two of Xu Wenbo (b.1931)
Colophon by Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), dated wuwu year (1918), signed with two seals
Frontispiece by Li Ruiqing (1867-1920), signed with four seals
Titleslip by Zeng Xi (1861-1930), dated wuwu year (1918), signed with one seal
NOTE:
Chen Chun (1483-1544) was one of the most influential flower painters of the Ming dynasty. Hailing from a prominent Suzhou family, he learned from the art of Shen Zhou (1427-1509) and Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) in his early years. His later intimate studies of branches and flowers, fully inspired by nature, are brilliant performances in brush and ink and penetrating portraits of the subjects. For Chen Chun, painting is an act of ink play from the heart. Together with Xu Wei (1521-1593), his expressionistic individualism transformed flower paintings for generations of artists that followed.
In the spring of 1539, while in the mood for wine, the fifty-six-year-old Chen Chun painted Flowers and Calligraphy on a boat in Suzhou. Measuring over four metres long, it depicts peony, magnolia, orchid, chrysanthemum, narcissus and camellia, each section separated by five-character quatrains inscribed by the artist. The colophon concludes that he painted the scroll in such an inebriated state that he could ‘no longer tell the beautiful from the ugly’. The ethereal flowers and branches are laid out with light ink then meticulously outlined, their colouristic beauty demonstrating the artist’s superb command of ink and wash. Li Ruiqing (1867-1920) praised the otherworldliness of Chen Chun’s brushstrokes in the frontispiece: ‘viewing this painting in summertime makes one feel like tasting ice and snow under plum blossoms.’
During the Kangxi period, Flowers and Calligraphy was in the collection of Wang Wenbo (1659-1725), a great book collector in Tongxiang. In late Qing, it was collected by the connoisseur Chen Jide. In 1918, Zeng Xi (1861-1930) inscribed the titleslip, followed by a long colophon by Wu Changshuo (1844-1927) dated June of the same year. It also bears the collector’s seals of Madame Xu Wenbo, wife of Zhang Daqian, further adding to its illustrious provenance.
Literature
Kei Suzuki ed., Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings: Vol. 1 American Collections, Private Collection, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, 1983, pp. I-170-171, pl. A18-037.
Manni Liu, P.Y. Kinmay Tang Memorial Gallery at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Orientations, Hong Kong, April 1992.
(Colophon by Wu Changshuo) Essays on Wu Changshuo, fouluji juan 4, Zhejiang People’s Fine Art Publishing, 2017, p.72.
Zhu Aidi ed., Chronology of Chen Chun, Shanghai Shuhua Publication House, 2018, p.272.
Manni Liu, P.Y. Kinmay Tang Memorial Gallery at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Orientations, Hong Kong, April 1992.
(Colophon by Wu Changshuo) Essays on Wu Changshuo, fouluji juan 4, Zhejiang People’s Fine Art Publishing, 2017, p.72.
Zhu Aidi ed., Chronology of Chen Chun, Shanghai Shuhua Publication House, 2018, p.272.