China, signed Zushan taotaozhai Wang Qi. Depiction of Lin Bu with a pupil, carrying a branch of plum blossoms. Painted in fine polychrome enamels. One poem in black ink. One seal.
Condition: Good condition with some wear and minimal firing flaws. Provenance: From a private estate in the United Kingdom.
Weight: 231.6 g including frame Dimensions: 22.2 x 14.5 cm including the frame
Lin Bu (967-1028), art name Hejing, was a Chinese poet during the Northern Song dynasty. One of the most famous verse masters of his time. His works and theatrical solitude won him nationwide fame, and he was offered prestigious government posts, although he refused all civic duties in pursuit of his poetry. Long after he died, Lin’s eccentric attitude and his works retained a vivid place in Song cultural imagination and later works. He wrote countless poems on the plum blossom. Among the most famous is ‘Shanyuan Xiaomei’. It reads ‘Among withered flowers plum trees brightly bloom, dominating garden with beauty unsurpassed.’
With a European frame. (2)
Wang Qi (1884-1937) Wang Qi was the most outstanding porcelain painter of his day. The present plaques, lot 359, 360, 361 and 362 are fine examples of his use of rapid and expressionistic brush strokes. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, imperial orders for porcelain dwindled at Jingdezhen, the main porcelain production center of China. Porcelain artists, released from imperial restraints, developed their own styles based upon famous scroll painters of earlier periods. Eight of the leading artists formed a group, which despite calling themselves ‘The Full Moon Society’ came to be known as the ‘Eight Friends of Zushan’. The development of Wang Qi’s mature style can be traced to a trip he made to Shanghai in 1916 to see an exhibition of works by a group of painters called Yangzhou Baguai (the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou). Wang was so impressed by the paintings of Huang Shen, one of the Eight Eccentrics, that he started to emulate Huang’s style. This influence can still be seen one some of the present lots with their whimsical, sometimes exaggerated figures and sparse backgrounds juxtaposed with long calligraphic inscriptions in running script. Not content to just emulate Huang’s style, Wang created his own by incrementally incorporating Western techniques in his work. This is also seen in the use of light and shading on faces and clothing of the immortals in the four present plaques, where realism and impressionism are harmoniously blended.