Special Notice
This lot is offered without reserve.
Pre-Lot Text
FROM THE LAST STUDENT OF ZHANG DAQIAN
The owner of this collection James C Kung was born in 1915 in Shanghai. With an active career in the financial field, he was branch president of Bank of the Republic of China in Bangkok, New York and Tokyo; as well as branch president and manager of the Chemical Bank in Taipei, Taiwan. Chinese painting and calligraphy were his greatest passion in life, while his wife, Janet Kung, taught herself oil painting.
Most of the paintings in this collection were gifted to James Kung by Zhang Daqian in the 1970s, when Kung and his wife were residing in Taipei. Prior to that, in a traditional Chinese Pupil Ceremony in New York, Mr. Kung was accepted as Zhang's last student. The couple were frequent dinner guests at the artist's home, and it was there that they became part of the inner social circle which remained true until and beyond the death of the venerated artist. The painting collection accompanied the Kungs across the Pacific to Alhambra, California twelve years ago. James C Kung passed away on October 23, 2001 in Alhambra, California.