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Descriptif du lot
The Lotus Garden: The Art and Provenance of Flowers and Birds Album by Bada Shanren
In the early spring of 1699, Bada Shanren painted Flowers and Birds Album. At seventy-three years old, he had reached theheight of artistic maturity. Passing through the collections of Pan Zhengwei, Zhang Daqian, and later Wang Fangyu andSum Wai, and exhibited in Japan, Taiwan and the United States, the album stands as one of the finest surviving examplesof Bada Shanren’s late flower-and-bird paintings.
Born Zhu Da, Bada Shanren was a descendant of the Ming imperial house. Following the dynasty’s collapse, he became aBuddhist monk and lived in seclusion, channeling his emotions into painting and calligraphy. His works appear sparse anddetached yet convey profound feeling beneath their restrained surfaces.
Created during his late “Lotus Garden Period,” the album depicts flowers, birds, fish, and rocks with remarkable simplicity. Bada’s mastery of empty space allows each motif to command its own poetic realm. Particularly striking are his birds with upturned eyes, whose sidelong glances seem to express a conscious detachment from the mundane world. With only a few strokes, he achieves extraordinary expressive power.
The album was recorded in Pan Zhengwei’s Record of Paintings and Calligraphy in the Tingfanlou Collection. Pan praised its “exquisite brushwork and marvellous ink effects,” testifying to the high regard in which Bada Shanren was already held by Qing collectors. The record further notes that the paintings were originally accompanied by ten leaves of calligraphy.
Evidence suggests these calligraphic leaves survived into the twentieth century. At the 1931 Tokyo exhibition Grand View of Famous Paintings of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, one painting leaf and one calligraphic leaf (Withered Willow and Solitary Bird) were reproduced in the catalogue and identified as being in the collection of Wang Kemin. A prominent banker, statesman, and collector, Wang assembled an important collection of paintings and antiquities that was dispersed after his death in 1945. In recent years, seven of the missing calligraphic leaves have reappeared at auction, bearing the seals of Lanxiu Lou and the noted Ningbo collector Ma Jizuo. The owner of Lanxiu Lou was likely Zhang Zhiqin, a prominent journalist and publisher active in both mainland China and Hong Kong.
The twelve painted leaves later entered the celebrated collection of Zhang Daqian, who deeply admired both Shitao and Bada Shanren. They subsequently passed to Wang Fangyu and Sum Wai in the United States. In 1990, the album was featured in the exhibition Master of the Lotus Garden: The Life and Art of Bada Shanren (1626-1705) at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, before travelling to the Yale University Art Gallery the following year and being published in the accompanying catalogue.
Over more than three centuries, this album has travelled from the studio of Bada Shanren to collections and museums around the world. Its history reflects not only the achievement of one of China’s greatest painters, but also the enduring transmission of Chinese art across generations, cultures, and continents.
In the early spring of 1699, Bada Shanren painted Flowers and Birds Album. At seventy-three years old, he had reached theheight of artistic maturity. Passing through the collections of Pan Zhengwei, Zhang Daqian, and later Wang Fangyu andSum Wai, and exhibited in Japan, Taiwan and the United States, the album stands as one of the finest surviving examplesof Bada Shanren’s late flower-and-bird paintings.
Born Zhu Da, Bada Shanren was a descendant of the Ming imperial house. Following the dynasty’s collapse, he became aBuddhist monk and lived in seclusion, channeling his emotions into painting and calligraphy. His works appear sparse anddetached yet convey profound feeling beneath their restrained surfaces.
Created during his late “Lotus Garden Period,” the album depicts flowers, birds, fish, and rocks with remarkable simplicity. Bada’s mastery of empty space allows each motif to command its own poetic realm. Particularly striking are his birds with upturned eyes, whose sidelong glances seem to express a conscious detachment from the mundane world. With only a few strokes, he achieves extraordinary expressive power.
The album was recorded in Pan Zhengwei’s Record of Paintings and Calligraphy in the Tingfanlou Collection. Pan praised its “exquisite brushwork and marvellous ink effects,” testifying to the high regard in which Bada Shanren was already held by Qing collectors. The record further notes that the paintings were originally accompanied by ten leaves of calligraphy.
Evidence suggests these calligraphic leaves survived into the twentieth century. At the 1931 Tokyo exhibition Grand View of Famous Paintings of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, one painting leaf and one calligraphic leaf (Withered Willow and Solitary Bird) were reproduced in the catalogue and identified as being in the collection of Wang Kemin. A prominent banker, statesman, and collector, Wang assembled an important collection of paintings and antiquities that was dispersed after his death in 1945. In recent years, seven of the missing calligraphic leaves have reappeared at auction, bearing the seals of Lanxiu Lou and the noted Ningbo collector Ma Jizuo. The owner of Lanxiu Lou was likely Zhang Zhiqin, a prominent journalist and publisher active in both mainland China and Hong Kong.
The twelve painted leaves later entered the celebrated collection of Zhang Daqian, who deeply admired both Shitao and Bada Shanren. They subsequently passed to Wang Fangyu and Sum Wai in the United States. In 1990, the album was featured in the exhibition Master of the Lotus Garden: The Life and Art of Bada Shanren (1626-1705) at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, before travelling to the Yale University Art Gallery the following year and being published in the accompanying catalogue.
Over more than three centuries, this album has travelled from the studio of Bada Shanren to collections and museums around the world. Its history reflects not only the achievement of one of China’s greatest painters, but also the enduring transmission of Chinese art across generations, cultures, and continents.