Emperors of the Southern Song, 12th to 13th Century. Calligraphy In Various Script Forms. Est. $750,000/1 million, (one of four is pictured). Photo: Sotheby's

NEW YORK, NY.- On March 22, 2012, Sotheby’s New York will present Fine Classical Chinese Paintings, the debut sale of this category in Sotheby’s New York March Asia Week series of events. The auction will include a rich and varied selection of fine paintings and calligraphy dating from the 12th century to the 20th century. The number of important and rare works, many from private collections and fresh to the market, is particularly notable. The sale, which consists of more than 160 lots, is expected to bring $9.7 to 13.6 million. The exhibition will open in Sotheby’s New York galleries beginning March 16th.

The auction will feature fourteen Exquisite Fan Paintings from an Important European Collection, led by Calligraphy in Various Script Forms by the emperors of the Southern Song, 12th to 13th Century (Lot 686, est. $750,000/1 million). Originally three separate fan leaves and one album leaf, now mounted as a handscroll, the current lot includes poems written by the first four emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty, beginning with Emperor Gaozong, who established the Southern Song Dynasty in 1127. 

Emperors of the Southern Song, 12th to 13th Century. Calligraphy In Various Script Forms. Est. $750,000/1 million, (second of four is pictured). Photo: Sotheby's

ink on silk, three fan leaves and one album leaf now mounted as a handscroll; various sizes. Estimazte 750,000-1,000,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Christie's Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Classical Paintings and Calligraphy, April 29, 2001, lot 318

NOTE: Collector's label inscriptions:

1. Treasured Collection of Brushwork from Four Imperial Hands of the Southern Song, a supreme treasure, rare in this world as a strange pearl. Private Collection of the Pan family at Haishan Hall.

2. Treasured Collection of Brushwork from Four Imperial Hands of the Southern Song, a treasured text of the Tianxiang Study, old Feng Nianxuan of Wu has written this at age seventy-four.

Frontispiece: Celestial calligraphy and marvelous traces of the imperial hand. Wang Ti.

Collector's inscriptions:

1.Collector's label: Song emperor Gaozong's imperial brush in seven character meter and grass script.
Artist's inscription: Who has used Tao Ling's (Tao Yuanming) yellow gold chrysanthemums and in their fantasies made fermented wine from his white jade flowers? The small herbs make for true flavor, and in the eastern garden I will tend to my later years.
With collector's inscription by Weng Fanggang on the topic of Liu Songnian's service to the Song court, with seven collector's seals, ming an guo wan, jian an yan fu, wu yuan hui li quan shi, fang er tong xin, chen ding, lin he cheng qi shou cang jin shi shu hua zhi yin, cheng shi bo fen.

2. Collector's label: Song emperor Xiaozong's imperial brush in seven character meter and standard script.
Artist's inscription: the cause of Celestial Emperor Qing's hardship was his feelings for the immortal Cao Xi. The Queen Mother granted him a single grain of cinnabar so that he alone might give eternal to his blossom.
Collector's inscription: this piece was meant to accompany a fan painting from the Song painting academy drawn from life. To the lower right inner edge there is a half-seal that can still be seen. (Weng Fanggang).
With four collector's seals, zeng cang pan an chu, wu yuan hui li quan shi, cheng qi si yin, ke an suo de ming xin jue pin.

3. Collector's label: Song emperor Guangzong's imperial brush in couplet form, running standard script.
Artist's inscription: A winter butterfly flutters along the luxuriant bank while waterfowl play in the sandy shoals.
Collector's inscription: this piece was meant to accompany a fan painting from the Song painting academy drawn from life. In the gap there is a two character seal 'yin shu' that can still be seen. From among the emperors of the Southern Song, this is by the hand of Song emperor Guangzong. The sixth month of the dingchou year (1817) by an old man of eighty-five years, Fanggang.
With one artist's seal, yu shu, and four collector's seals, pan jian an tu shu yin, wu yuan hui li quan shi, shuang song lou, cheng qi jian cang.

4.Collector's label: Song emperor Ningzong's imperial brush in couplet form, running script.
Artist's inscription: On a cloudy day the pines are bright with snow, a late breeze moves through the streams and mountains.
With three collector's inscriptions:
This piece has two imperial seals, 'yu shu zhi bao' to the left, and 'yimao' to the right in a gourd-shaped seal. Only emperors Gao, Xiao, and Ning had an 'yimao' year. (based on research) it must be from the first year of the Ningzong reign, making this undoubtedly from the brush of Ningzong. (Weng Fanggang);
On an autumn day in the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China (1936) inscribed by Ye Gongchuo;
On Mid-autumn Festival (in 1996)Cheng Qi Bofen ...used an duan inkstone from quezhou and moistened old ink to record this.
With two artist's seals, yu shu zhi bao, yi mao, and fourteen collector's seals, han shui geng hui hou shu hua zhi zhang, geng jia zuo yin, qian shan geng xin gong shu hua zhi zhang, xin gong zhen shang, pan yan ling yin, yu yuan hui li quan shi, zhan si, liu hu shu hua zhi zhang, zhen zhang, dong ping, cheng ke an shu hua ji, ke an bi wan, qiu, yi mao.

An additional highlight is Landscape After Lu Guang by Hongren, a leading artist of the Huangshan School in the late Ming Dynasty (Lot 644, est. $1/1.2 million). The hanging scroll is one of four works on offer from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection of Chinese paintings, which was put together over the course of three decades by Professor James Cahill. Professor Cahill is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on Chinese painting and his collection is particularly strong in works from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Paintings by Hongren rarely appear on the market and a work of this quality will be highly sought after. 

Hongren (1610-1663), Landscape After Lu Guang. 

signed Jianjiang xueren ('the Scholar of Jianjiang'), inscribed 'in imitation of the brush-idea of Lu Tianyou (Lu Guang, c. 1300-after 1371),' dated wuxu (1658) fourth month, and with two seals of the artist, hong ren, jian jiang. ink on paper, hanging scroll: 86.3 by 35.3 cm. 34 by 13 7/8 in. Estimate 1,000,000-1,200,000 USD

EXHIBITED: Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 20 to August 13, 1967; San Francisco, M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, September 15 to November 5, 1967 
Chinese Paintings from the Ching-Yuan Chai: the Cahill Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Chinese Paintings of the Qing Dynasty, April 22 to June 2, 1974
Shadows of Mt. Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School, Berkeley, University Art Museum, January 21 to March 22, 1981;The Detroit Institute of Arts, July 12 to 13, 1981;
Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, The University of Texas at Austin, October to November 22, 1981; Princeton University, The Art Museum, December 12, 1981 to January 23, 1982
The Single Brushstroke: 600 Years of Chinese Painting from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection, Vancouver Art Gallery, March 15 to May 26, 1985
Mists and Clouds: Masterworks of Chinese Painting, Berkeley, University Art Museum, March 2002; University of Michigan Museum of Art, 2002-2003; University of Wisconsin, Elvehjem Museum, 2004; West Palm Beach, Norton Museum of Art, 2004-2005; Williams College Museum of Art, 2005

LITTERATURE: Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting, James Cahill, The Asia Society, 1967, cat. no. 12 (p. 46, and cf. p.114)
Chinese Paintings from the Ching-Yuan Chai: the Cahill Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974, cat. no.36
Archives of Asian Art XXXI, Richard Vinograd, 'Reminiscences of Ch'in-huai: Tao-chi and the Nanking School', 1977-1978, fig. 23 (p. 21)
Shadows of Mt. Huang. Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School, James Cahill, ed., Berkeley: University Art Museum, University of California, 1981, cat. no. 29 (p. 88 and cf. p. 82)
The Compelling Image. Nature and Style in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting, James Cahill, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982, fig. 5.15 (p. 159)
The Single Brushstroke: 600 Years of Chinese Painting from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1985, cat. no. 64, pp. 85-86
Chinese Art in Overseas Collections (Haiwai yizhen)—Painting, Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1985, Pl. 154, p.189
Yiyuan Duoying (Gems From Chinese Fine Arts) Vol. 41, Shanghai, People's Art Press, June 1990, no. 51, p. 38
Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings (Chgoku Kaiga Sg Zuroku), American and Canadian Collections, Kei Suzuki, comp. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1982, A31-159, p. I-366

NOTE: At the fall of the Ming dynasty the artist known as Hongren was ordained as a Buddhist monk. Born into an impoverished family in Shexian, Anhui, he passed the provincial examination which, under normal circumstances, would have led to an official career. With the fall of the dynasty in 1644, however, he chose to avoid political entanglements and instead of serving the new regime he became a monk. This was the path taken by many likeminded scholars of the time.

Hongren spent the remainder of his short life in monasteries in and around the area of his birth. He became an important painter of landscapes and the leading artist of the Huangshan, or Anhui, School of painting. Hongren's painting style is characterized by dry, angular, and refined brushwork combined with a near-geometric treatment of form and an architectonic sense of structure.

In his inscription Hongren alludes to the Yuan dynasty Daoist painter Lu Guang. 'Spring Dawn at the Cinnabar Terrace,' a rare example of Lu's work in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, employs a similar compositional structure, in which a jagged watercourse and slanted plateaus lead the viewer back in space and upward toward a central peak. Hongren's brushwork, however, is more angular and dry than Lu's, and Hongren's rocks are sparcer and more austere, relying primarily on contour lines to render volume and form, with little interior texturing. Hongren's chief stylistic sources are the two great Yuan dynasty masters, Ni Zan (1301-1374) and Huang Gongwang (1269-1354). Hongren's dry, angular brushwork, as well as the stark, unadorned simplicity of his tree and rock forms, are certainly reminiscent of the detached purity evoked by Ni Zan's landscapes. The neat compositional logic, based on the artful juxtaposition and overlapping of angular and rounded forms, is derived from the landscapes of Huang Gongwang.

Hongren undoubtedly felt a kinship with Ni Zan, Huang Gongwang, and Lu Guang that transcended stylistic influences. Like Hongren, these Yuan dynasty painters were yimin (leftover subjects), who retreated from society and spent the last years of their lives engaged in spiritual and artistic pursuits

Another magnificent work from the collection, Temples On Mountains Of The Immortals, by Wen Jia (Lot 643, est. $200/300,000), is a masterful synthesis of Daoist symbolism, narrative description and literati aesthetic. It is doubtless one of the finest paintings by the artist. All four works from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection have been published multiple times and have been exhibited in major museums throughout North America since the 1960s

 Wen Jia (1501-1583), Temples On Mountains Of The Immortals. 

signed Wen Jia, inscribed 'Temples on Mountains of the Immortals. In the yimao year of the Jiajing reign (1555), painted by Wen Jia at the Tingyunguan (Building Where the Clouds Linger)', and with one seal of the artist, wen jia zhi yin, and five collectors' seals, wang shi ji qian ceng guan (seal of C. C. Wang), cheng dao ji yin, cheng ji shi jia zhen cang, tong li zhen mi, and cheng shou hu yin; ink and color on paper, hanging scroll; 102 by 28.2 cm. 40 1/8 by 11 1/8 in. Estimate 200,000-300,000 USD

EXHIBITED: Chinese Paintings from the Ching-Yuan Chai: the Cahill Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Chinese
Paintings of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, March 19 to April 21, 1974
The Single Brushstroke: 600 Years of Chinese Painting from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection, Vancouver Art Gallery, March 15 to May 26, 1985
Mists and Clouds: Masterworks of Chinese Painting, Berkeley Art Museum, March 2002; University of Michigan Museum of Art, 2002-2003; University of Wisconsin, Elvehjem Museum, 2004; West Palm Beach, Norton Museum of Art, 2004-2005; Williams College Museum of Art, 2005

LITTERATURE: Chinese Paintings from the Ching-Yuan Chai: the Cahill Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974, cat. no.11
Parting at the Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty, James Cahill, 1368-1580, New York and Tokyo: John Weatherhill Inc., 1978, Pl. 129 and cf. pp. 248-249
The Literati Vision: Sixteenth Century Wu School Painting and Calligraphy, Alice R. M. Hyland, Kimball Art Museum and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis: 1984, no. 26
The Single Brushstroke: 600 Years of Chinese Painting from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1985, cat. no. 28, pp. 43-44
Yiyuan Duoying (Gems From Chinese Fine Arts) Vol. 41, Shanghai, People's Art Press, June 1990, no. 23, p. 17
Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings (Chgoku Kaiga Sg Zuroku), Kei Suzuki, comp. American and Canadian Collections, Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1982, A31-112, p. I-362.
Tricycle, The Buddhist Review, Winter, 1998, Vol. 8, No. 2

NOTE: Wen Jia was the second son of Wen Zhengming (1470-1559). Following in his illustrious father's footsteps, he became a poet, painter, and connoisseur. Not surprisingly, his painting style is modeled after that of his father, in terms of brushwork, compositional arrangement, and subject matter.

'Temples on Mountains of the Immortals' is one of his finest works. The composition is bisected along a diagonal, with the top half depicting a Daoist temple situated high atop treacherous mountain peaks, and the lower half focusing on a stalactite grotto--seen as a gateway to paradise in Daoist lore-- from which a cascading stream flows. In the foreground of the painting, in front of the grotto, two scholars and their attendants are engaged in conversation. In the middle of the picture two travelers make their way up a flight of stairs built on stilts above cascading waterfalls. They will soon reach some sheltered pavilions where they can take a rest before resuming their pilgrimage to the Daoist temple at the top of the mountain.

Wen Jia's painting is a masterful synthesis of Daoist symbolism, narrative description, and literati painting aesthetic.

Ching Yuan Chai (Jingyuan zhai) is the studio name given to the collection of Chinese and Japanese paintings belonging to Professor James Cahill and his family. Professor Cahill is world-renowned scholar and one of the most respected authorities on Chinese painting. The collection was assembled over a period of three decades, beginning in 1954 in Japan. The collection is particularly strong in works from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

The studio name Ching Yuan Chai can be interpreted as "Studio of Gazing at the Abstruse" or "Studio of [someone who is] Looking Hard at the Yuan Dynasty." A total of four exquisite works offered in this sale belongs to Professor Cahill's daughter Sarah.

A group of 25 paintings from An Important American Collection, formed mainly during the 1930s and 1940s in Shanghai, will also be featured. The collection includes representative examples by several leading artists as well as a number of exceptional works by lesser known names, such as Pan Simu’s Record of Dreams From The Listening To Autumn Studio, an album of eight elaborately composed dream scenes dedicated to one of most renowned female poets of the 19th century, Luo Qilan (Lot 613, est. 60/80,000). 

Pan Simu  (1756-AFTER 1843); Wang Wenzhi (1730-1802), Record of Dreams From The Listening To Autumn Studio. 

the last leaf signed Qiaolü, and with one seal of the artist, pan si mu yin. 

Eight facing leaves, inscribed with a poem transcribed by Wang Wenzhi, and with one or more seals of the calligrapher. The last leaf inscribed 'During the first year of the Jiaqing reign (1796), autumn, the eighth lunar month, the Old Man of Dream Tower recorded this on behalf of my female disciple Peixiang (Luo Qilan).' Colophons by Wang Wenzhi; Yuan Mei (1716-1797); Zeng Yu (1759-1831); Pan Yijuan (1740-1830); Wu Yun (1811-1883), dated guihai (1863); Xu Jiayi, dated Tongzhi guihai (1863); Zong Xiangwen (1834-1897), dated Guangxu bingxu (1886). With seven collectors' seals, zong xiang wen zhen cang yin, su ting zhen mi, xu ting, shen wu shen ding, su ting jian shang zhi zhang, su ting ping sheng zhen shang, ai shi zhai suo zhen cang, su ting suo cang: ink and color on paper, album of eight leaves: each 23.4 by 17 cm. 9 1/4 by 6 3/4 in. (8). Estimate 60,000-80,000 USD 

Coming from the estate of enigmatic collector Walter Hochstadter, Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove by Chen Hongshou, a predominant figure painter of the 17th century, is an extremely fine example of the artist’s unique style and archaistic brushwork. (Lot 652, est. $500/700,000). The handscroll includes a colophon by the 19th century painter Bao Dong, dated 1867, which praises Chen Hongshou’s divine, lofty, and archaic style. The following lot in the auction is Bao Dong’s own version of Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove – his painterly tribute to Chen Hongshou – which is a masterpiece in its own right (Lot 653, est. $100/150,000). 

Chen Hongshou 1598-1652, Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. 

signed Hongshou, inscribed, with a dedication to Daoist Qieqian, and with one seal of the artist, hong shou, and seven collector's seals, shi yuan, bo xiong mi ji, tian mu shan ren, hou shi tai jian cang, yang zong zhi, sheng gu, zun gu tang zhen shang. Colophons by Wu Zi (1813-1858), dated dingmao of the Tongzhi reign (1867), and with one seal, wu zi zhi yin; Bao Dong, dated dingmao of the Tongzhi reign (1867), with two seals, zi liang fu, bao dong chang shou; and Wang Honglang, dated jimao of the Guanxu reign (1879), and with one seal, ji fu shen ding; ink and color on silk, handscroll; 19.8 by 194.6 cm. 7 3/4 by 76 1/2 in. Estimate 500,000-700,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Christie's Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Classical Paintings and Calligraphy, November 29, 2009, Lot 816
Property from the Estate of Walter Hochstadter

EXHIBITED: Asia Society, Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, New York, March 3 to April 26, 2009

LITERATURE: Artibus Asiae: Neo-Taoism and 'The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove' in Chinese Painting, Ellen Johnston Laing, 1974, pp. 46-48, pl. 34, 35
The Distant Mountains: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Dynasty 1570-1644, James Cahill, New York: Weatherhill, 1982, pp. 256-257, pl. 135
The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting, James Cahill, Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1982, fig. 4.34-4.35, pp. 130-134
ARS Orientalis 35, The World's a Stage: The Theatricality of Chen Hongshou's Figure Painting, by Shi-yee Liu, ashington D. C., Smithsonian Institution, 2008, pp. 170-172, pl. 20

NOTE: Bao Dong's colophon:
I have seen two paintings by Laolian (Chen Hongshou), 'Yuchuan Tasting Tea,' and 'Mi Dian Bowing to a Stone.' I spent three days copying them, both to capture their appearance and to grasp the divine logic by which [these works] transcended heaven and earth. I pondered this for ten days and finally began to see the light. In painting figures Laolian relied totally on the methods of the Tang dynasty painters, which in turn had their origins in the portrait paintings of the Han period. By following these lofty standards he attained a firm foundation that most people throughout history could only dream of. His figures are lofty and archaic, as if they are wearing the hat and clothes of the Jin period, and their liveliness stems from something beyond brushwork. When rendering trees, rocks, and background elements, his lines are fine like gossamer, [firm] like seal-script, [natural] like the marks made by water leaking down a wall; truly marvelous! Moreover the landscape elements in this long handscroll flow together as if drawn forth from a single breath. It is as if his soul and his brush have been fused together in a furnace. The cognoscenti will appreciate this with no need for further explanation. In the dingmao year of the Tongzhi reign (1867) ,
on the birthday of the waterlily, recorded by Bao Dong, from north of the mountain.

Bao Dong (Actove mid-19h century), Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, after Chen Hongshou. 

signed Dong, and with one seal of the artist, zi liang. Frontispiece by Li Jiafu and colophon by Xu Kang, dated wuchen of Tongzhi reign (1868); ink and color on paper, handscroll; 12.3 by 217.4 cm. 8 3/4 by 81 3/4 in. Estimate 100,000-150,000 USD

NOTE: 

Label inscription: A copy after Laolian (Chen Hongshou, 1598-1652) by Bao Ziliang
Frontispiece: A copy of Chen Zhanghou's Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove handscroll by Bao Ziliang of Shanyin. Inscribed in seal script by Li Jiafu of Shimen
Artist's inscription: In the style of a Tang painter by Hongshou, copied by Dong

Eagle Perching on the Pine is a superb example of one of the signature themes of the great 20th century master Qi Baishi (Lot 700, est. $1.2/1.5 million). The subject matter is one of the artist’s most beloved. The pine tree represents longevity, while the eagle signifies heroism. Qi Baishi dedicated this painting to a Guomingtang official who was stationed in Beijing in 1946, and the work has remained in the family ever since. 

Qi Baishi (1864-1957), Eagle Perching on the Pine. 

signed Baishi, dated bingxu, 1946, autumn, the eighth lunar month, dedicated to Du Heng (1895-1965), and with three seals of the artist, qi huan lao shou, bai shi, nian gao shen jian bu ken zuo shen xian; ink and color on paper, hanging scroll; 136.2 by 64.3 cm. 53 5/8 by 25 1/4 in. Estimate 1,200,000-1,500,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Acquired directly from the artist in 1946 by the recepient, and kept in the family ever since

Paintings from An Important Private Collection include a group of twelve works, all of which were purchased in the 1980s on the international art market, mainly from Sotheby’s salerooms. The diverse selection demonstrates the collector’s impeccable taste. Exceptional works include Landscape, After Huang Gongwang by Wang Yu, which is one of the most monumental works by the artist and displays his refined and elegant brushwork (Lot 746, est. $60/80,000).

Wang Yu (18th century), Landscape, After Huang Gongwang. 

signed Qiaoyun Shanren Wang Yu, dated jisi of the Qianlong reign (1749), inscribed with a poem, and with four seals of the artist, wang yu zhi yin, ri chu, han xiang ge, xing yu yan xia hui; ink on paper, hanging scroll; 204.5 by 108.6 cm. 80 1/2 by 42 3/4 in. Estimate 60,000-80,000 USD

PROVENANCE Sotheby's New York, Fine Chinese Paintings, December 5, 1984, lot 35

NOTE: 
Artist's Inscription: 

In the water pavilion I burn incense for Hui Yuan;
But the myriad causes become empty beside my wine.
The clear stream and setting sun view each other from afar;
As a band of idle clouds heads east of the green trees.
On the day before the Lantern Festival in the year jisi of the Qianlong reign (March 2, 1749), I painted this in imitation of the style of Huang Zijiu (Huang Gongwang, 1269-1354) at the Winter Fragrance Pavilion. The Mountain Man of Wood-gathering Clouds, Wang Yu.

The March 22nd sale of Fine Classical Chinese Paintings represents one of the finest groups of Chinese paintings ever assembled for sale at auction in America.