Essential Cultural Relics of China in Museums Overseas: Paintings and Calligraphy

Kou Qin

Editor-in-chief， deputy secretary general of China Auction Industry Association， director and vice president of China Guardian Auctions Co.， Ltd.， currently the director， president， and CEO of Guardian Investment. Graduating from the Chinese Department at Wuhan University， he has been engaged in art market circulation， art resource integration， and other related work for a long time.

The album series of paintings Essential Cultural Relics of China in Museums Overseas features 373 items (groups) of Chinese cultural relics collected by the fifth-generation descendant of Weng Tonghe and famous collector Weng Wange and his wife Cheng Huabao. They visited major museums around the world in their early years， and their collections include eight categories of representative works， such as paintings and calligraphy， bronze ware， ceramics， jade， gold and silver wares， Buddha statues， etc.， which are all important collections of Chinese cultural relics. The book not only displays these exquisite art treasures， but also gives an overall description of them， including the time of entry， value appraisal， circulation stories， etc.， so that more people can understand the dispersion of Chinese cultural heritage and its current location. This album series of pictures is not only a rare collection of historical documents， but also a special guide to a comprehensive understanding and appreciation of cultural relics of China in museums overseas. This volume is Essential Cultural Relics of China in Museums Overseas: Paintings and Calligraphy.

Essential Cultural Relics of China in Museums Overseas: Paintings and Calligraphy

Kou Qin (editor-in-chief)

China Intercontinental Press

April 2021

318.00 (CNY)

This painting is presumed to be a scene of scholars collating the five classics and important history books under the orders of Gao Yang， Emperor Wenxuan of the Northern Qi Dynasty (a dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasties)， in the seventh year of the Tianbao reign. It was previously attributed to Yan Liben， a famous painter of the Tang Dynasty， but is currently attributed by most scholars to Yang Zihua， a renowned painter of the Northern Qi Dynasty. Compared with murals uncovered at Lou Rui’s Tomb of that period， similarities do exist as the human figures all have oval faces. Yang Zihua， revered as “sage in painting，” was an official painter for Gao Zhan， Emperor Wucheng of the Northern Qi Dynasty. According to literature， Yang was good at painting figures， palace gardens， carriages， and horses. Legends have it that the horses he drew gave viewers an illusion of hearing them whinnying at night. This painting does include several saddled horses. But why did horses appear in a painting of such subjects? It is because the Song painters who copied it got the order of parts in the scroll wrong or even mixed one part of another scroll. Given the scarcity of literature on early figure painting， this piece serves as an essential pathway for us to get a grip on the painter Yang Zihua and the general painting style of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

At the end of the scroll are postscripts added by Fan Chengda， Han Yuanji， and Lu You， among other scholars. According to the collectors’ stamps， it was once in the hands of Liang Qingbiao， An Qi， and Hongdao， Prince of Yi of the Qing Dynasty， among others. After the demise of the Qing， many antiques ended up overseas. This Northern Qi Scholars Collating Classic Texts was one of them. In 1931， this painting was donated by Denman Waldo Rose， an American collector， to the Museum of Fine Arts， Boston， becoming one of this museum’s most important Chinese paintings.

Preparing newly woven silk， le， the processing of cloth before official garment-making， was a major productive activity of ancient women at the turn of summer and autumn. According to the Notes on Past Famous Paintings by Zhang Yanyuan of the Tang Dynasty， many painters of the Eastern Jin Dynasty painted about the preparation of woven silk. After the creation of this painting by Zhang Xuan， this motif was often revisited by painters of later generations. However， this piece stood out as the most famous throughout history.

This painting painted 12 women who， judged on their costume， are supposed to be imperial court ladies back then. In addition to preparing cooked silk， it also shows thread trimming and ironing， among other processes. Through elegant， dignified， and demure court ladies under his brush， Zhang Xuan， a master of figure painting of the Tang Dynasty， thoroughly presented the fashion of plumpness as a criterion of beauty during the Tang.

Unfortunately， as with many early paintings， this piece was not created by Zhang， but a copy by a painter of the Song Dynasty based on the original. It was once held by the Imperial Storehouse of the Kin Dynasty after Kin captured Bianjing， the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty， in 1126. Later， it was acquired by Gao Shiqi， a renowned scholar of the Qing Dynasty. According to textual research， Kakuzo Okakura， then an adviser to the Oriental Art Department， Museum of Fine Arts， Boston， visited China in 1912 and acquired a large number of ancient Chinese paintings and curios， including this one. In November 2012， during the “Exhibition on Precious Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from the Five Dynasties， Song and Yuan Dynasties Collected in U.S. Museums” at the Shanghai Museum， the Court Ladies Preparing the Newly Woven Silk was temporarily back home after it had left the country for a century.

The historical story of Cai Wenji returning to the Han went into the realm of painting during the Southern Song Dynasty. Since then， it has frequently appeared in paintings. Many works of art are extant on this subject， with long， narrative scrolls based on the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute by Liu Shang of the Tang Dynasty being an integral part. In addition to this scroll， eight other versions of the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute are collected in museums worldwide. These paintings are interrelated and even coincide， suggesting their close and complicated relationships. This scroll and Lady Wenji Returned to the Han Dynasty collected in the museum Yamato Bunkakan are the most complete among these scrolls， while the one contained in the Museum of Fine Arts， Boston and the Tang Dynasty copy collected in the Taipei Palace Museum are among the earliest versions.

This scroll contains 18 scenes， each accompanied by an excerpt from the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute by Li Shang in regular script. The combination of pictures with text is consistent with many extant paintings of the Song Dynasty， such as the Female Filial Piety written by Emperor Gaozong with matching paintings by Ma Hezhi collected in the Taipei Palace Museum. This scroll’s strokes appear stiff， and some characters are traced， which indicates that this scroll is not a creation of the Song Dynasty. Instead， it was traced and copied by a calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty based on an earlier master copy. Nevertheless， this scroll still has irreplaceable value in preserving the original state of the master copy and the dress code of the Song Dynasty.

Though this scroll is affixed with approximately 100 stamps by collectors， including Jia Sidao and Mu Lin， the most credible stamps among these， according to studies， it could only be dated back to Qian Ning and Geng Zhaozhong. Later， this scroll was collected in the Imperial Storehouse of the Qing Dynasty and much treasured by Emperor Qianlong， who even personally completed the missing words in the first chapter. After the fall of the Qing empire， this scroll ended up in private hands until Wang Jiqian acquired it. Finally， it was obtained by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1973.

This hand scroll is an album of six leaves， each of a similar size， probably cut uniformly at the time of mounting. This album was initially titled Combined Album of Paintings by Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming. According to the postscript by Wen Zhengming， this album originally contained six paintings by Shen， commissioned by Wu Kuan， who later asked Wen for another four， adding up to ten paintings. Today， there are only six left in existence， including five by Shen and one by Wen. Here， we present two pieces， the Poet on a Mountain Top by Shen and the Storm over the River by Wen.

Poet on a Mountain Top by Shen portrays a scholar with a walking stick in his hand standing on a clouded cliff， overlooking mountains in the distance. Halfway up the mountains， a complex of temple buildings is half hidden in the lush woods. On the upper left corner is a seven-character quatrain written in running script， translated as “Clouds wrap around the waist of mountains like a belt. A long narrow trail of stone steps leads up to the mid-air. Relaxed and alone， I looked into the distance leaning on my wand. Hearing the murmuring creek， I wanted to echo it with a flute.” The poem arguably complements the painting.

Storm over the River by Wen also contains a verse written in running script on its top left corner. It is two lines from At Chuzhou on the Western Stream by Wei Yingwu， a great poet of the Tang Dynasty: “On the spring flood of last night’s rain， the ferry-boat moves as though someone were poling.” The painted scene visualizes the poem. The painter outlines the clouds and waters in very light strokes; the soft brushes and shades represent the falling rain， while its slanting angle reveals the presence of wind. This portrayal takes up approximately three-fourths of the space. On the bottom right corner is a sloped bank on which the branches and leaves of trees are bending down， which emphasizes the violence of this storm. On the surface of the stream， an empty boat is afloat amid this stormy weather.

Both paintings are characterized by the combination of poetry and painting， which literati painters called “poetry， paintings and calligraphy being one，” which is different from what professional painters called “similarities with painting.”

The lower left corner of the Poet on a Mountain Top is affixed with the “Collection of Tingfan Tower” stamp， while that of the Storm over the River is affixed with the “Collection of Pan Jitong” stamp. It suggests that both pieces were once in the hands of Pan Zhengwei (style name: Jitong， his study named Tingfan Tower) of the late Qing Dynasty. Perhaps， it was Pan who mounted the six works of paintings into one scroll.