SET OF SIX 'SCHOLAR'S ROCK' PAINTINGS
QING DYNASTY, 18TH-19TH CENTURY
£3,750
Auction: 13 May 2020 at 11:00 BST
Description
清 賞石圖設色紙本（一組六幅）
上水石／鶯石／北青山石／宣石／南太湖石／斧披石
ink and colour on paper, each painting depicting a scholar's rock vertically fitted in a white stone pot, including a porous Taihu stone in yellow tone and originated from Dongting Lake, a snowy-white Xuan stone from Anhui provenance, and a greenish Fupi stone with sleek surface
Dimensions
17cm x 7.5cm each
Footnote
Provenance: Formerly in a private French collection
Note: They are part of a massive series of designs sent by Jesuits agents at the Court of Beijing in the 1770 to Henri Bertin, Minister of State for the Bourbon Kings of France and a major collector of things Chinese. There are albums of such drawings, including another set of some of these rocks with Chinese inscriptions describing them (brief titles only).
Literature: Kee Il Choi Jr. 'Vases Chinois.’ Journal 18, A Journal of Eighteenth-century Art and Culture, Issue no. 6, Fall, 2018