CHEN CHUN (1483-1544) - photo 1
CHEN CHUN (1483-1544) - photo 2
CHEN CHUN (1483-1544) - photo 3

CHEN CHUN (1483-1544)

Lot 822
01.06.2023 02:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
HKD 28 810 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 966331
Lot 822 | CHEN CHUN (1483-1544)
Estimate value
HKD 6 000 000 – 8 000 000
CHEN CHUN (1483-1544)
Flowers and Calligraphy
Handscroll, ink on paper
26.7 x 403.9 cm. (10 ½ x 159 in.)
Inscribed with six poems and signed, with seventeen seals of the artist
Dated spring day, jihai year (1539)
Eleven collector’s seals including four of Wang Wenbo (1659-1725), three of Chen Jide (19th Century) and two of Xu Wenbo (b.1931)
Colophon by Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), dated wuwu year (1918), signed with two seals
Frontispiece by Li Ruiqing (1867-1920), signed with four seals
Titleslip by Zeng Xi (1861-1930), dated wuwu year (1918), signed with one seal

NOTE:
Chen Chun (1483-1544) was one of the most influential flower painters of the Ming dynasty. Hailing from a prominent Suzhou family, he learned from the art of Shen Zhou (1427-1509) and Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) in his early years. His later intimate studies of branches and flowers, fully inspired by nature, are brilliant performances in brush and ink and penetrating portraits of the subjects. For Chen Chun, painting is an act of ink play from the heart. Together with Xu Wei (1521-1593), his expressionistic individualism transformed flower paintings for generations of artists that followed.
In the spring of 1539, while in the mood for wine, the fifty-six-year-old Chen Chun painted Flowers and Calligraphy on a boat in Suzhou. Measuring over four metres long, it depicts peony, magnolia, orchid, chrysanthemum, narcissus and camellia, each section separated by five-character quatrains inscribed by the artist. The colophon concludes that he painted the scroll in such an inebriated state that he could ‘no longer tell the beautiful from the ugly’. The ethereal flowers and branches are laid out with light ink then meticulously outlined, their colouristic beauty demonstrating the artist’s superb command of ink and wash. Li Ruiqing (1867-1920) praised the otherworldliness of Chen Chun’s brushstrokes in the frontispiece: ‘viewing this painting in summertime makes one feel like tasting ice and snow under plum blossoms.’
During the Kangxi period, Flowers and Calligraphy was in the collection of Wang Wenbo (1659-1725), a great book collector in Tongxiang. In late Qing, it was collected by the connoisseur Chen Jide. In 1918, Zeng Xi (1861-1930) inscribed the titleslip, followed by a long colophon by Wu Changshuo (1844-1927) dated June of the same year. It also bears the collector’s seals of Madame Xu Wenbo, wife of Zhang Daqian, further adding to its illustrious provenance.



Literature

Kei Suzuki ed., Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings: Vol. 1 American Collections, Private Collection, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, 1983, pp. I-170-171, pl. A18-037.

Manni Liu, P.Y. Kinmay Tang Memorial Gallery at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Orientations, Hong Kong, April 1992.

(Colophon by Wu Changshuo) Essays on Wu Changshuo, fouluji juan 4, Zhejiang People’s Fine Art Publishing, 2017, p.72.

Zhu Aidi ed., Chronology of Chen Chun, Shanghai Shuhua Publication House, 2018, p.272.
Artist:Chen Chun (1483-1544)
Auction house category:Paintings
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
01.06.2023 – 01.06.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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