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Lot Essay
Learning from the East and the West: Wu Li’s Cultivation and the Lineage of Landscape with Pines and Chrysanthemums for Taopu
Amongst the six masters of the early Qing period, Wu Li (1632-1718) is the only one who learnt from the East and West. Initially he pursued the learning path of the literati: studying poetry with Qian Qianyi (1582-1644), painting with Wang Shimin (1592-1680) and Wang Jian (1598-1680), qin with Chen Min (17th-18th C.), ethics with Chen Hu (1613-1675). He lived next to a church and became a Catholic at around the age of forty- four. When he was fifty years old he went to Macau and in 1682, he joined the Jesuits and eventually became a Jesuit priest with the name Simon Xavierius a Cunha, and discharged his pastoral assignments in the Jiangnan region.
Wu Li executed Landscape with Pines and Chrysanthemums for Taopu in 1704 when he was seventy-three years old. Located in Jiading, Jiangnan region, Taopu was a villa built by Lu Peiyuan (17th-18th C.) whose spectacular views of chrysanthemums, pines, bamboos and cypresses were praised by his contemporaries. According to the inscription, this painting was commissioned by the eldest son of Lu Peiyuan, Lu Tingcan (c.1678- 1743), a student of Wang Shizhen and Song Luo and a tea connoisseur. Upon completion, the painting was sent through Lu Daohuai (17th-18th C.), a student of Wu Li and Wang Hui.
The provenance of Landscape with Pines and Chrysanthemums for Taopu was well documented. According to Chong Yi’s Notes on Painting and Calligraphy of Select Learning Studio, it once belonged to Lu Yuqing (18th-19th C.), son of Lu Shihua (1714-1779) the renowned painting and calligraphy collector and author of Paintings and Calligraphy Examined in Wuyue. Then Liang Zhangju (1775-1849), an important scholar- official of the Qing court, took the possession before it entered into the collection of Sun Yumin (1833-1899), an important late Qing official. Later it belonged to Guan Mianjun (1871-1933), also an important late Qing official and painting and calligraphy collector whom documented it in his Painting and Calligraphy Records of Three Autumns Pavilion. With reference to Zhang Heng’s Notes on the Authentication of Painting and Calligraphy from the Muyan Studio 4, Guan probably had arranged photography of the painting prior to passing on its ownership to Zhang Xueliang (1901-2001), an illustrious political figure during the 1930s. Zhang impressed six collector’s seals on this work and one of them indicated his possession since 1931. Laurence C. S. Tam’s publication in 1986 Six Masters of Early Qing and Wu Li stipulated that this painting was formerly in the collection of Mr. Chang Ting-chen. Eventually it belonged to C. C. Wang (1907-2003).
Amongst the six masters of the early Qing period, Wu Li (1632-1718) is the only one who learnt from the East and West. Initially he pursued the learning path of the literati: studying poetry with Qian Qianyi (1582-1644), painting with Wang Shimin (1592-1680) and Wang Jian (1598-1680), qin with Chen Min (17th-18th C.), ethics with Chen Hu (1613-1675). He lived next to a church and became a Catholic at around the age of forty- four. When he was fifty years old he went to Macau and in 1682, he joined the Jesuits and eventually became a Jesuit priest with the name Simon Xavierius a Cunha, and discharged his pastoral assignments in the Jiangnan region.
Wu Li executed Landscape with Pines and Chrysanthemums for Taopu in 1704 when he was seventy-three years old. Located in Jiading, Jiangnan region, Taopu was a villa built by Lu Peiyuan (17th-18th C.) whose spectacular views of chrysanthemums, pines, bamboos and cypresses were praised by his contemporaries. According to the inscription, this painting was commissioned by the eldest son of Lu Peiyuan, Lu Tingcan (c.1678- 1743), a student of Wang Shizhen and Song Luo and a tea connoisseur. Upon completion, the painting was sent through Lu Daohuai (17th-18th C.), a student of Wu Li and Wang Hui.
The provenance of Landscape with Pines and Chrysanthemums for Taopu was well documented. According to Chong Yi’s Notes on Painting and Calligraphy of Select Learning Studio, it once belonged to Lu Yuqing (18th-19th C.), son of Lu Shihua (1714-1779) the renowned painting and calligraphy collector and author of Paintings and Calligraphy Examined in Wuyue. Then Liang Zhangju (1775-1849), an important scholar- official of the Qing court, took the possession before it entered into the collection of Sun Yumin (1833-1899), an important late Qing official. Later it belonged to Guan Mianjun (1871-1933), also an important late Qing official and painting and calligraphy collector whom documented it in his Painting and Calligraphy Records of Three Autumns Pavilion. With reference to Zhang Heng’s Notes on the Authentication of Painting and Calligraphy from the Muyan Studio 4, Guan probably had arranged photography of the painting prior to passing on its ownership to Zhang Xueliang (1901-2001), an illustrious political figure during the 1930s. Zhang impressed six collector’s seals on this work and one of them indicated his possession since 1931. Laurence C. S. Tam’s publication in 1986 Six Masters of Early Qing and Wu Li stipulated that this painting was formerly in the collection of Mr. Chang Ting-chen. Eventually it belonged to C. C. Wang (1907-2003).