Lot Essay
The dedicatory inscription on this screen begins with the two characters gong zhu, 'respectfully to congratulate', and is a eulogy of the recipient's achievements in public office on the occasion of his 60th birthday. It is dated to the 21st year, Renxu, of the reign of the Kangxi (corresponding to 1682), the auspicious first day of the first month of spring. It was 'humbly presented by his disciple Zhao Jinmei to County Magistrate Wen Linlang' and is signed by over 400 members of the council. Following the cyclical calendar used by the Chinese, sixty years complete a full cycle and hence this birthday is most elaborately celebrated.
The surrounding ornaments tie in with the subject of the text: the inner band is embellished with repeated variations of the Shou-character, for longevity, and the picture panels contain Precious Objects from the Scholar's Studio, quotations from famous novels, bird-and-flower paintings, and landscapes vignettes in the literati style of Chinese painting, thus including all the attributes of a hexagenarian Confucian scholar-official.
The surrounding ornaments tie in with the subject of the text: the inner band is embellished with repeated variations of the Shou-character, for longevity, and the picture panels contain Precious Objects from the Scholar's Studio, quotations from famous novels, bird-and-flower paintings, and landscapes vignettes in the literati style of Chinese painting, thus including all the attributes of a hexagenarian Confucian scholar-official.