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Lot Essay
Antiquity and Elegance: An Appreciation of Chen Hongshou’s Gathering of Reclusive Sages and Poetry Drafts
Chen Hongshou (1598–1652), courtesy name Zhanghou and sobriquet Laolian, was a native of Zhuji in the late Ming dynasty. He was renowned for his painting skills and was granted access to view the imperial art collection and improved his technique over time. After the fall of the Ming, he briefly became a monk but later returned to secular life, supporting himself by selling paintings.
Gifted from a young age, Chen studied painting under one of the late Ming masters Lan Ying. He excelled at painting figures, landscapes, and bird-and-flower paintings with effortless spontaneity. He also studied the classics with Liu Zongzhou, and his poetry—bold and spirited—flowed naturally from his brush. In 1651, he wrote in the scroll Clear Summer in Streams and Mountains:
“Painters today who emulate the Song masters fall into mechanical craftsmanship—why? Because they do not carry the resonance of the Tang. Those who study the Yuan fall into wildness—because they do not trace back to the Song. If one could employ the charm of the Tang, wield the structure of the Song, and practice the manner of the Yuan, then one would achieve great mastery.”
Here he critiques the shortcomings of his contemporaries, who failed to integrate the artistic learning of the Tang, Song, and Yuan, instead confining themselves to one’s period or style, thus unable to attain true greatness. His formulation of “Tang charm,” “Song structure,” and “Yuan manner” parallels, and precedes by some fifty years, Wang Hui’s early Qing theory of “using the brushwork of the Yuan, the landscapes of the Song, imbued with the spirit of the Tang,” demonstrating the aspiration to synthesize the artistic traditions of the three great dynasties was a shared consciousness among artists at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing.
The current work comprised of a painting and a calligraphy mounted as one handscroll. The painting depicts two men seated on rocks playing a game of go, with a staff-bearing onlooker beside them. Some of them are with unkempt hair, some wearing caps or hats—their faces thin and solemn, wearing simple garments, rendered in Chen’s distinctive archaic style. Behind them, a young servant tends a tea kettle over a clay stove glowing with embers, echoing the cold plum blossoms in the foreground. Chen Hongshou often painted ancient bronze vessels and scrolls; they also symbolize antiquity and convey spiritual meaning beyond their practical use.
The calligraphy is executed with ease and grace. It is a draft of a poem describing the scenery of West Lake in Hangzhou and Leifeng Pagoda, and is recorded in Chen's collected poems. Gao Shiqi (1645-1703) inscribed the scroll three times, showing how much he treasured it. In his first colophon he noted that “handscrolls of Chen’s work are especially rare,” and that the figures in the painting possess “an air of calm ease;” and that the poem’s phrasing is “fresh and clear.” Having acquired these works by chance, he combined them into a single handscroll. Living only several decades after Chen, Gao’s testimony is credible, and the value of this scroll speaks for itself.
This work was part of the collections of Wang Shijie (1891-1981), C.C. Wang (1907-2003), and others. Its appearance at auction this time will surely be cherished by discerning collectors.
Chen Hongshou (1598–1652), courtesy name Zhanghou and sobriquet Laolian, was a native of Zhuji in the late Ming dynasty. He was renowned for his painting skills and was granted access to view the imperial art collection and improved his technique over time. After the fall of the Ming, he briefly became a monk but later returned to secular life, supporting himself by selling paintings.
Gifted from a young age, Chen studied painting under one of the late Ming masters Lan Ying. He excelled at painting figures, landscapes, and bird-and-flower paintings with effortless spontaneity. He also studied the classics with Liu Zongzhou, and his poetry—bold and spirited—flowed naturally from his brush. In 1651, he wrote in the scroll Clear Summer in Streams and Mountains:
“Painters today who emulate the Song masters fall into mechanical craftsmanship—why? Because they do not carry the resonance of the Tang. Those who study the Yuan fall into wildness—because they do not trace back to the Song. If one could employ the charm of the Tang, wield the structure of the Song, and practice the manner of the Yuan, then one would achieve great mastery.”
Here he critiques the shortcomings of his contemporaries, who failed to integrate the artistic learning of the Tang, Song, and Yuan, instead confining themselves to one’s period or style, thus unable to attain true greatness. His formulation of “Tang charm,” “Song structure,” and “Yuan manner” parallels, and precedes by some fifty years, Wang Hui’s early Qing theory of “using the brushwork of the Yuan, the landscapes of the Song, imbued with the spirit of the Tang,” demonstrating the aspiration to synthesize the artistic traditions of the three great dynasties was a shared consciousness among artists at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing.
The current work comprised of a painting and a calligraphy mounted as one handscroll. The painting depicts two men seated on rocks playing a game of go, with a staff-bearing onlooker beside them. Some of them are with unkempt hair, some wearing caps or hats—their faces thin and solemn, wearing simple garments, rendered in Chen’s distinctive archaic style. Behind them, a young servant tends a tea kettle over a clay stove glowing with embers, echoing the cold plum blossoms in the foreground. Chen Hongshou often painted ancient bronze vessels and scrolls; they also symbolize antiquity and convey spiritual meaning beyond their practical use.
The calligraphy is executed with ease and grace. It is a draft of a poem describing the scenery of West Lake in Hangzhou and Leifeng Pagoda, and is recorded in Chen's collected poems. Gao Shiqi (1645-1703) inscribed the scroll three times, showing how much he treasured it. In his first colophon he noted that “handscrolls of Chen’s work are especially rare,” and that the figures in the painting possess “an air of calm ease;” and that the poem’s phrasing is “fresh and clear.” Having acquired these works by chance, he combined them into a single handscroll. Living only several decades after Chen, Gao’s testimony is credible, and the value of this scroll speaks for itself.
This work was part of the collections of Wang Shijie (1891-1981), C.C. Wang (1907-2003), and others. Its appearance at auction this time will surely be cherished by discerning collectors.