ZHANG DAQIAN (1899-1983) Mount Hua
Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper
132.5 x 49 cm. (52 1⁄8 x 19 1⁄4 in.)
Inscribed and signed, with two seals of the artist
ZHANG DAQIAN (1899-1983) Mount Hua
Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper
132.5 x 49 cm. (52 1⁄8 x 19 1⁄4 in.)
Inscribed and signed, with two seals of the artist
The present collection includes six works from Zhang Daqian’s early career. The collector’s family was in business in Shanghai in the 1930s and the 1940s and purchased paintings to protect themselves against inflation and political instability. They brought the collection with them to Hong Kong in 1949 and kept it intact for over half a century. The highlights include a group of early Zhang Daqian figures and landscape paintings dating from the 1930s to the 1940s. As a diligent and thoughtful young artist, Zhang Daqian dedicated his youth to emulating works by ancient masters such as Shitao and Bada Shanren whilst travelling to visit the famed mountains and landscapes to seek artistic inspiration. Zhang often paid tribute to the masters he so revered - in Portrait of Sun Chuo (Lot 1108), he sought inspiration from the tales of the Northern and Southern dynasties and the calligraphy of Shitao; in Scholar and Attendant (Lot 1109), he painted in the style of Hua Yan. Some of the landscapes are sketches from Zhang’s travels, including Landscape in the Style of Zhao Mengfu (Lot 1107), which Zhang attributed to the famed work Autumn Colours on the Qiao and Hua Mountains by the Yuan dynasty artistic giant.
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