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Lot Essay
The poem by Wang Wei and inscribed by Zhang Daqian may be translated as:
The red bean grows in southern lands.
With spring its slender tendrils twine.
Gather for me some more, I pray,
Of fond remembrance `tis the sign.
-Translated by W.J. Fletcher, 1918
The red bean or ‘love seed’, which the lady in the painting is holding, was a symbol of love in ancient China. In keeping with the theme, Wu Hufan’s colophon talks about the beauty of women in springtime and that of Xie Yuqin mentions the red beans and feminine beauty.
The willowy and ethereal physique of this lady is typical of Zhang Daqian’s figural style in his early years before he studied and copied the Buddhist paintings in the Dunhuang caves in 1941-43 and absorbed Indian influences. The facial, bodily,
and environmental aspects of this painting, as well as the calligraphy, compare closely to another depiction, painted around 1929, of a woman in a garden setting, Lady in Green Sleeves, in the Mei Yun Tang Collection (Mei Yun Tang and the Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien, Hong Kong 1993, no. 1, pp. 42-43, 212).
Wu Bicheng (20th century) was a collector from the Jiangnan province in China. The founder of the Sigu Zhai Antique Shop in Shanghai, he had a close relationship with many artists, including Zhang Daqian, Wu Hufan, and Feng Chaoren.
The red bean grows in southern lands.
With spring its slender tendrils twine.
Gather for me some more, I pray,
Of fond remembrance `tis the sign.
-Translated by W.J. Fletcher, 1918
The red bean or ‘love seed’, which the lady in the painting is holding, was a symbol of love in ancient China. In keeping with the theme, Wu Hufan’s colophon talks about the beauty of women in springtime and that of Xie Yuqin mentions the red beans and feminine beauty.
The willowy and ethereal physique of this lady is typical of Zhang Daqian’s figural style in his early years before he studied and copied the Buddhist paintings in the Dunhuang caves in 1941-43 and absorbed Indian influences. The facial, bodily,
and environmental aspects of this painting, as well as the calligraphy, compare closely to another depiction, painted around 1929, of a woman in a garden setting, Lady in Green Sleeves, in the Mei Yun Tang Collection (Mei Yun Tang and the Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien, Hong Kong 1993, no. 1, pp. 42-43, 212).
Wu Bicheng (20th century) was a collector from the Jiangnan province in China. The founder of the Sigu Zhai Antique Shop in Shanghai, he had a close relationship with many artists, including Zhang Daqian, Wu Hufan, and Feng Chaoren.