.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
In the early 1940s, Zhang Daqian was encouraged by Ye Gongchuo, which prompted him to go to Dunhuang to copy and study murals. This was an important turning point for him to break the shackles of Ming and Qing painting styles and trace the ancient painting style of the Tang Dynasty and Northern Dynasties. Taiwanese writer Hsieh Chia-hsiao (1931-1994) wrote, “In the world of Zhang Daqian, the Dunhuang period is his most glorious, just as the Dunhuang period is the most glorious in the history of art. Dunhuang played an immensely important part in Zhang’s artistic development and laid down the foundations for his future creations.”
Staying in Dunhuang for two years and seven months, Zhang Daqian copied a total of about 276 murals from the Mogao Caves. The inscription of the current painting indicates that it was painted in the Mogao Caves on the nineteenth day of the ninth month in 1942, and it is an early representative work of his genre. The lines of the clothes are elegant, and one can see the changes in his brushstrokes. To mimic the colours of the original mural, the paints he used were specially prepared by Tibetan painters, and Zhang learnt the techniques to prepare the mineral pigments such as azurite, malachite, and cinnabar, which laid the foundation for his subsequent development of his use of colours. The figure has a bulging chest, a thin waist, wide hips, and a plump and healthy body. In addition, its head-to-body ratio is moderate, with the upper body and lower body accounting for roughly half each. These Buddhist figures are meant to be looked up and worshipped. This body proportion combined with the viewpoint from low to high can better express the solemn image of the Buddha statue.
The nineteen day of the ninth month is one of the dates of the Guanyin Festival, usually marked as the date he attained nirvana. Zhang Daqian specially painted this portrait of Guanyin on this day, which is particularly meaningful for him as he had previously spent a hundred days as a Buddhist monk. According to the current collector, this painting was kept by the artist for many years and was sold to director Lee Fa in the 1960s. Later, the work was introduced by Mr. Jiang Chao, a famous calligraphy and painting intermediary in Macau, and was sold to Master of the Songdetang collection in the early 1970s.
Zhang Daqian donated 336 and 62 Dunhuang copies painted in the Mogao Grottoes and Yulin Grottoes to the Sichuan Museum and the National Palace Museum in Taipei in 1955 and 1969 respectively. Figure paintings donated to the Sichuan Museum are similar stylistically to the present work, which can be used as a reference. “Flying Immortals” from the family of H. H. Kong can also be used as reference. (Christie’s Hong Kong, November 30, 2010, No. 2641) (Fig).
Staying in Dunhuang for two years and seven months, Zhang Daqian copied a total of about 276 murals from the Mogao Caves. The inscription of the current painting indicates that it was painted in the Mogao Caves on the nineteenth day of the ninth month in 1942, and it is an early representative work of his genre. The lines of the clothes are elegant, and one can see the changes in his brushstrokes. To mimic the colours of the original mural, the paints he used were specially prepared by Tibetan painters, and Zhang learnt the techniques to prepare the mineral pigments such as azurite, malachite, and cinnabar, which laid the foundation for his subsequent development of his use of colours. The figure has a bulging chest, a thin waist, wide hips, and a plump and healthy body. In addition, its head-to-body ratio is moderate, with the upper body and lower body accounting for roughly half each. These Buddhist figures are meant to be looked up and worshipped. This body proportion combined with the viewpoint from low to high can better express the solemn image of the Buddha statue.
The nineteen day of the ninth month is one of the dates of the Guanyin Festival, usually marked as the date he attained nirvana. Zhang Daqian specially painted this portrait of Guanyin on this day, which is particularly meaningful for him as he had previously spent a hundred days as a Buddhist monk. According to the current collector, this painting was kept by the artist for many years and was sold to director Lee Fa in the 1960s. Later, the work was introduced by Mr. Jiang Chao, a famous calligraphy and painting intermediary in Macau, and was sold to Master of the Songdetang collection in the early 1970s.
Zhang Daqian donated 336 and 62 Dunhuang copies painted in the Mogao Grottoes and Yulin Grottoes to the Sichuan Museum and the National Palace Museum in Taipei in 1955 and 1969 respectively. Figure paintings donated to the Sichuan Museum are similar stylistically to the present work, which can be used as a reference. “Flying Immortals” from the family of H. H. Kong can also be used as reference. (Christie’s Hong Kong, November 30, 2010, No. 2641) (Fig).