2017.304: Landscape

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2017.304

People

Chapming Pang (Peng Ximing) 彭襲明, Chinese (1908 - 2002)

Title

Landscape

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

wall scroll, painting

Date

probably 1990

Culture

Chinese

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/319272

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Vertical wall scroll; ink on fibrous paper, with artist’s seal, and inscription, signature, and seals of Rao Zongyi

Dimensions

painting proper: 65 x 46.7 cm (25 9/16 x 18 3/8 in.)
Framed: 118.11 x 71.12 x 5.08 cm (46 1/2 x 28 x 2 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: brush-written by Rao Zongyi in upper right of painting, translates as follows
  artist’s seal, and inscription, signature, and
  seals of Rao Zongyi
  Cat. 36
  : "Emerald layers cover old trailing branches. The sky, with stars densely packed, is revealed. Chu-tsing asking Ximing to paint this. Inscribed by Xuantang (Rao Zongyi's sobriquet)"
  
• seal: artist's seal: Square red intaglio seal, lower right corner: "Peng Ximing yin"
  
• seal: inscriber's seals: Square red intaglio seal, following signature: "Zongyi zhi yin"
• inscription: 翠集蒼藤外 天闚象緯中 鑄晉屬 襲明作畫 選黨題 [Emerald layers cover old trailing branches. The sky, with stars densely packed, is revealed. Gift to Chu-tsing; painted by Ximing; inscribed by Xuantang (Rao Zongyi's sobriquet)]
• seal: artist's seal, lower right corner, square red intaglio: 彭襲明印 [seal of Peng Ximing]
• seal: Inscriber's seal, following signature, square red intaglio: 宗頤之印 [seal of Zongyi]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Peng Ximing, Hong Kong, (probably 1990), gift; to Chu-tsing Li, Lawrence, Kansas (1970-2012), gift; to his son B U.K. Li, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2012-2017), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2017.

Footnotes:
1. Dr. Chu-tsing Li (1920-2014)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Chu-tsing Li Collection, Gift of B U.K. Li in memory of Chu-tsing Li, Yao-wen Kwang Li, and Teri Ho Li

Accession Year

2017

Object Number

2017.304

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Rugged strokes of deep black ink define a fleeting glimpse through stalactites into a cave paradise, a scholar’s retreat hidden fast in the mountains. The expressive brushwork calls to mind the works of China’s seventeenth-century individualist painters, especially Shitao (also known as Daoji; 1642–1707). The artist did not sign this painting, but impressed his seal near the lower right corner.
The inscription on the painting is not by the artist, but by Rao Zongyi, a scholar. The inscription reads, “Emerald layers cover old trailing branches. The sky, with stars densely packed, is revealed. Chu-tsing asked Ximing to paint this.”
The artist, who received his training at the Shanghai Academy of Art, spent the war years in Sichuan province and later moved to Hong Kong, where he taught painting in an academic setting. Traditionally, it was common for a literati artist to paint a work for a friend and ask a fellow scholar-artist with expertise in poetry and calligraphy to inscribe it. Peng and his colleague Rao continued that tradition here.

Publication History

• Robert D. Mowry and Claudia Brown, A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, 1950-2000, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums/Yale University Press (Cambridge, Mass., 2007), cat. 36

Exhibition History

• A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, 1950-2000, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/03/2007 - 01/27/2008; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 06/28/2008 - 09/14/2008; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, 10/11/2008 - 01/04/2009; Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, 02/11/2009 - 05/24/2009

Verification Level