XU BEIHONG (1895-1953)
FROM THE YAYASAN LIM YEE HOH COLLECTION (LOTS 1139-1140)
XU BEIHONG (1895-1953)

Horse Drinking

Details
XU BEIHONG (1895-1953)
Horse Drinking
Hanging scroll, ink and colour on paper
132.5 x 53.5 cm. (52 1⁄8x 21 1⁄8in.)
Inscribed and signed, with one seal of the artist
Dated summer, wuyin year (1938)
Dedicated to Zemin
Further details
The late Mr Lim Yee Hoh was born in Malaysia into a Hokkien family in 1924. His grandparents immigrated to Malaysia from Fujian Province in the late 1800s and started a business in rubber plantations, trading, and processing as the Yee Seng Group. Lim Yee Hoh was active in Malaysia’s various Chinese and Hokkien communities.

Apart from being a well-established business personality in Malaysia, Lim Yee Hoh was fond of art and music and also actively devoted himself to philanthropy. He was a generous patron of the arts, providing funds to the local symphony orchestras and supporting the development of the local arts scene. Lim often travelled between Hong Kong and Singapore for business, using his spare time to collect works of art from galleries and auction houses. He accumulated an impressive art collection over the years, especially works by modern and contemporary artists.

Brought to you by

Carmen Shek Cerne (石嘉雯)
Carmen Shek Cerne (石嘉雯) Vice President, Head of Department, Chinese Paintings

Lot Essay

NOTE:
The work is dedicated to Zheng Zemin (1887-1959), a Malaysian wine merchant from Kuala Lumpur, whose ancestral home is Shantou, Guangdong Province. He was a good friend of Xu Beihong at that time and was gifted several works. Since Zheng Zemin was the third eldest in the family, Xu Beihong called him “Zemin third brother.” Zheng later became the president of the first Chinese school to resume classes after the war in Selangor. He also helped raise funds as a founding member of the Nanyang University. Zheng was widely regarded as an important figure in the Malaysian-Chinese community.
In Horse Drinking, the horse stands in the lush grass and leisurely drinks from the stream in the spring breeze. Xu Beihong stated that he painted wild horses without any saddles or reins; they either bow down to drink water or gallop freely in the wild. In the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Xu Beihong’s horses more or less symbolize the hope that the Chinese people would regain their freedom. As a gift to a close friend in the South Sea region, the painting also implicates the idea of not forgetting one’s origin.
(For the relationship between Xu Beihong and Zheng Zemin, and Zheng’s collection of Xu Beihong’s works, please refer to Li Hongzhao’s article Zheng Zemin and Xu Beihong, published in Shantou Daily on 22 April 2018)

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