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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1968.71
People
Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧, Chinese (1835 - 1908)
Title
Fungi and Bats
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
hanging scroll, painting
Date
1898
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Qing dynasty, 1644-1911
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/202978

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper, with large red square relief seal of the artist reading "Cixi Huangtaihou zhi bao" (Treasure of the Empress Dowager Cixi)
Dimensions
painting proper: H. 132.1 x W. 63.5 cm (52 x 25 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • seal: Large red square relief seal of the artist located at top center: Ci Xi Huang Tai Hou Zhi Bao" (Treasure of the Empress Dowager Cixi)
  • inscription: Inscription 1 at upper left; inscription 2 at lower right: Two inscriptions:
    1) Guangxu wuxu mengdong shanghuan yubi (Translation: [A work by the] imperial brush [done on] the first ten days of the first winter month of the 'wuxu' year of the Guangxu reign period [1898])
    2) A three-line inscription by Zhang Hengjia

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ex-Collection: Senator Theodore Francis Green, Rhode Island

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Asian Art Objects Fund
Accession Year
1968
Object Number
1968.71
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Claudia Brown and Ju-hsi Chou, Transcending Turmoil: Painting at the Close of China's Empire 1796-1911, exh. cat., Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, Arizona, 1992), p. 37, cat. no. 8 (illustrated on p. 12)
  • Claudia Brown, Great Qing: Painting in China, 1644-1911, University of Washington Press (Seattle and London, 2014), pp. 148-149, fig. 5.21

Exhibition History

  • Women and the Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/10/1994 - 03/05/1995
  • Rocks, Mountains, Landscapes, and Gardens: The Essence of East Asian Painting (1997), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/15/1997 - 09/21/1997

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu