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Lot 859 PROPERTY FROM THE WONG NAN-PING FAMILY COLLECTION (LOTS 854-873)
LU ZHI (1496-1576)
The South Marsh
Closed29 November 2021
Price Realised
HKD 5,625,000
More Information
Specialist note
Mountain Living by the Riverbank — The Sentiment of Leisurely Reclusion of The South Marsh
Lu Zhi (1496-1576) studied under Wang Ao (1450-1524), Zhu Yunming (1460-1526), and Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), and became a versatile specialist in birds and flowers as well as landscape. As one of the leading artists of the Wu School post-Wen Zhengming, he lived in reclusion later in his life.
The South Marsh exemplifies his elegant and fluid brushwork, which vividly depicts a Jiangnan scene of villages by the water and surrounded by hills. He signed as “Lu Zhi supplements the painting,” which suggests that this work was meant to illustrate and accompany a calligraphic literary work already in existence. A work currently housed at the Taipei National Palace Museum—a collaboration between Wen Zhengming and Lu Zhi—which features calligraphy by Wen Zhengming and painting by Lu Zhi, also bears a similar signatory inscription. It is reasonable to assume that The South Marsh was painted to illustrate a now lost piece of calligraphy. The famed literati calligrapher and artist Chen Jiru (1558-1639) appended his commentary and observation of nature and human activities of living in the mountains, reinforcing the themes in The South Marsh.
In the early Qing period, this work was owned by the distinguished collector Gao Shiqi (1645-1703). The current title, The South Marsh, is derived from the first of his four inscriptions. Apparently, he travelled with this handscroll, and viewed and inscribed on it along his journeys—a sign of his fondness for this masterpiece.
Lu Zhi (1496-1576) studied under Wang Ao (1450-1524), Zhu Yunming (1460-1526), and Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), and became a versatile specialist in birds and flowers as well as landscape. As one of the leading artists of the Wu School post-Wen Zhengming, he lived in reclusion later in his life.
The South Marsh exemplifies his elegant and fluid brushwork, which vividly depicts a Jiangnan scene of villages by the water and surrounded by hills. He signed as “Lu Zhi supplements the painting,” which suggests that this work was meant to illustrate and accompany a calligraphic literary work already in existence. A work currently housed at the Taipei National Palace Museum—a collaboration between Wen Zhengming and Lu Zhi—which features calligraphy by Wen Zhengming and painting by Lu Zhi, also bears a similar signatory inscription. It is reasonable to assume that The South Marsh was painted to illustrate a now lost piece of calligraphy. The famed literati calligrapher and artist Chen Jiru (1558-1639) appended his commentary and observation of nature and human activities of living in the mountains, reinforcing the themes in The South Marsh.
In the early Qing period, this work was owned by the distinguished collector Gao Shiqi (1645-1703). The current title, The South Marsh, is derived from the first of his four inscriptions. Apparently, he travelled with this handscroll, and viewed and inscribed on it along his journeys—a sign of his fondness for this masterpiece.