This season China Guardian (HK) is delighted to present three sales of Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy, offering more than 500 lots on 30 March. Following from the success of the important private collections offered since last spring, this season we are honoured to be entrusted by two seasoned collectors from Hong Kong with a group of works that will be offered in a sale titled Important Collections of Fine Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from Asia. Thanks to the unique trading advantages of Hong Kong, these two collectors had been able to acquire superb works by master painters from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chang’an as well as the Lingnan school over the past decades. Highlights in the sale include Orchid by Shi Lu and Travelling through the Mountains by Zhao Wangyun, both representatives of the Chang’an school of painting, as well as outstanding works by Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Wu Hufan, Huang Binhong and Wu Guanzhong.
The Modern Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy sale will present important works sourced from around the world. Among the highlights is Scholar under Pine Trees, a collaboration between masters including Zhang Daqian and Wu Fufan, which was previously in the collection of the Tang Erho family, its long list of prefaces and postscripts by luminaries a demonstration of the thriving cultural circle at the time. Previously preserved in the collections of Tang Tianru as well as the Cathay Art Museum in Taipei, Huang Binhong’s Landscape in Calligraphic Style is a remarkable work painted with dazzling gem-like colours during the master’s final years, whereas Lu Yanshao’s Out of Gorges previously in the collection of a renowned medical doctor in Shanghai is a fine composition from Lu’s golden years.
The sale will also present a number of themed sessions and private collections, some of them offered at auction for the very first time. Among them are Paintings from the Collection of Yang Kailing and Zhou Xingdi as well as Paintings from the Yuan Shouqian Collection, which includes extraordinary works by Zhang Daqian, Huang Binhong, Xie Ziliu and Pu Ru. A number of Japanese collections will be offered. We are also honoured to bring to the market for the third consecutive season Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from the Dan Han Lou Collection, most of which were gifts from the artists or acquired at antique and curio stores in China decades ago.
The Classical Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy sale will be led by Lan Ying’s brilliant album Landscapes, as well as Xu Naigu’s Lin Hejing on a Solitary Hill, which includes over 20,000 words in prefaces and postscripts by influential late Qing-dynasty and Republican dignitaries. Also notable are a group of more than 40 paintings from the Qing dynasty from a European private collection which is renowned for its Classical huanghuali furniture, a group of Ming and Qing-dynasty fan leaves from the collection of Hong Kong collector Mr. Chan Yeepong, as well as a Ming and Qing-dynasty paintings from Asian private collections.
ZHANG Daqian
Visiting a Friend
Mounted for framing; ink and colour on paper
94.5 × 43 cm
HUANG Binhong
Landscape in Calligraphic Style
Mounted for framing; ink and colour on paper
Publication: Refer to chinese text.
82.5 × 37 cm
FU Baoshi
Tao Yuanming
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
73.5 × 38 cm
XU Beihong
Magpie on Maple Braneh
Hanging scroll; ink and colour on paper
48.5 × 31 cm
QI Baishi
Lotus and Mandarin Duck
Hanging scroll; ink and colour on paper
134.5 × 34.5 cm
ZHANG Daqian, WU Hufan, ZHANG Shanzi, PENG Gongpu
Scholar Under Pinetrees
Handscroll ; ink and colour on paper
Provenance: Refer to Chinese text.
29 × 68 cm
LI Xiongcai
Spring Rain on Li River
Handscroll; ink on paper
Publication: Refer to Chinese text.
22.3 × 292.2 cm
HUANG Yongyu
Cheung Chau
Mounted for framing; ink and colour on paper
68 × 69 cm
GUAN Liang
Opera Characters
Hanging scroll; ink and colour on paper
Publication & Exhibition:
Refer to Chinese text.
64 × 38 cm
XIE Zhiliu
Lotus
Mounted for framing; ink and colour on paper
151 × 106 cm
TAO Lengyue
Moon Night
Hanging scroll; ink and colour on paper
Publication: Refer to chinese text.
33 × 48.5 cm
SHI Lu
Orchid
Mounted for framing; ink and colour on paper
70 × 138 cm
WU Guanzhong
Woods and Houses
Mounted for framing; ink and colour on paper
34 × 33.5 cm
YU Fei’an
Lotus Flower and Bird
Hanging scroll; ink and colour on paper
Provenance: Refer to Chinese text.
99 × 33 cm
Lan Ying
Landscapes
Album leaves; ink on silk ; ink and colour on silk
Publication and Provenance: Refer to Chinese text.
29 × 25.5 cm
WANG Yuan (Att.)
Ducks and Lotus Flower
Hanging scroll ink and colour on silk
Publication and Exhibition: Refer to Chinese text.
75.5 × 35.5 cm (each)
YUAN Yao
Cloudy Landscape
Hanging scroll; ink and colour on silk
187 × 142 cm
WENG Fanggang, WANG Wenzhi, Saying’e, RUAN Yuan et al.
Calligraphy
Album leaves; ink and colour on silk
Provenance: Refer to Chinese text.
25 × 33 cm (each)
DAI Zhiheng, WU Gan
Landescape and Calligraphy
Album leaves; ink and colour on silk
Provenance: Refer to Chinese text.
17 × 23 cm (each)
CHENG Tinglu
Life among Mountains
Handscroll; ink and colour on paper
Provenance: Refer to Chinese text.
26.5 × 118 cm
WU Dacheng
Calligraphy and Landscapes
Mounted for framing; ink on gold paper; ink on paper
Provenance: Refer to Chinese text