Watercolor woodblock print
China. 20th cent.
Depiction 27,5 x 18 cm, paper size 41,4 x 28,4 cm
Depiction of a rocky landscape with writing by the artist: "In the collection of Ding Yinpeng there is such a picture. I copied it while in a good mood" and his seal. From the Rong Baozhai workshops.
Rèn Yí (任頤; 1840–1896), also known as Ren Bonian, worked in the late Qing Dynasty. He is recognized today as the innovator of Chinese painting and is one of the most important artists of his time for his depictions of figures, flowers, birds and also landscape pictures. He utilized traditional Chinese techniques, which he combined with the realistic style of Western painting.
From the Walter Exner Collection, Vienna-Bad Wildungen.
Expertise: Wolfmar Zacken
The very renowned collection Exner was established by Anton Exner between the 1st and 2nd World War. 3000 Asian items were donated by Anton Exner to the Austrian Museum for Applied Arts in Vienna. When he passed away in 1952, the son of Walter Exner inherited half of the already very extensive collection, with which he furnished the Asian Museum, Bad Wildungen. Walter Exner spent one and a half years in China, where he founded Siebenberg Publishing, which he then continued in Germany and published specialist books about Asian art.
In 1970, the Asian Museum, Bad Wildungen had to be closed for financial reasons, whereby a major part of the collection was acquired by Gallery Zacke, Wien, who then presented the pieces in several sales exhibitions.