WEN ZHENGMING (1470-1559)

Verses in Running Script Calligraphy

Details

WEN ZHENGMING (1470-1559)
Verses in Running Script Calligraphy
Hanging scroll, ink on silk
108 x 33 cm. (42 1⁄2 x 13 in.)
Inscribed and signed, with two seals of the artist
Accompanied by a handscroll of colophon by Sen Hitto (?-1765), signed and dated 1757, with three seals

Further details

Looking into the Past –
Paintings and Calligraphy by the Jiangnan Literati of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

The migration of Central Plains culture to the South began after the Six Dynasties. Since Southern Song, the transfer of political power to the South in addition to migration, as well as the commercial development in urban areas had led to a firm establishment of the cultural foundation in Jiangnan. The arts and culture of Jiangnan became increasingly important during the Ming and Qing period, especially for the paintings and calligraphy whose development was shaped by various local-schools, such as the Wu school, the Songjiang school and the Yangzhou school.

Literati paintings and calligraphy dominated the painting scene of Jiangnan during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In contrast to the professional painters, the origin of literati painters could be traced back to the Northern Song when Su Shi advocated the ideas that expressing one’s spirit through form should be the essence of painting, and that poetry should embody painting and vice versa.

This season, Christie’s Hong Kong is honoured to present a wide range of literati paintings and calligraphy by the Ming and Qing masters, including Wen Zhengming, Xie Shichen, Dong Qichang and Jin Nong. Wen’s calligraphy in various scripts (Lots 820, 821, 824 and 825) represent his versatility and virtuosity. Xie’s Scholarly Gathering till Twilight (Lot 823) is an impromptu pictorial record of a literati gathering coupled with the inscriptions by Wen Zhenming and Wen Jia, etc. The juxtaposition of orthodox calligraphic works and landscapes by Dong Qichang (Lots 822, 826, 827, 830 and 832) and the eccentric Plants (Lot 828) and Qi script calligraphy (Lots 829 and 831) by Jin Nong offers diametrically different styles.

According to Wang Xizhi’s Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion: “When future generations look back to my time, it will probably be similar to how I now think of the past.’’ This also applies to collecting paintings and calligraphy and indeed, we should cherish the opportunity of acquiring these literati masterpieces.

Conditions of sale

Lot Essay

Sen Hitto was a Japanese painter and calligrapher in Osaka whose paintings were inspired by Shen Quan (1682-1760). According to his colophon, this piece of calligraphy was once belonged to the Japanese calligrapher Hata Chikutan (1672-1730) in Osaka. Sasaki Shimizuma (1619-1695), artist names Shochikudo and Sen’nen’o, was a Japanese calligrapher influenced by Zhang Jizhi (12th-13th Century) the Chinese calligrapher.

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