Formerly Attributed to Li Zai (Chinese, active 15th century)
Period:
late Ming (1368–1644)–early Qing (1644–1911) dynasty
Date:
Dated "yiwei" (1595? 1655?)
Culture:
China
Medium:
Handscroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:
Image: 11 x 126 in. (27.9 x 320 cm)
Overall with mounting: 13 1/2 x 365 5/8 in. (34.3 x 928.7 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Purchase, John M. Crawford Jr. Gift, 1977
Accession Number:
1977.87
Not on view
Signature: Artist's inscription in upper left corner of painting, in regular script: "In Xiang Yuanbian's collection I once saw Ma Yuan's painting 'Layered Peaks among Clouds'. Unfortunately, it was not protected from fire and is already destroyed. Today, in order to conjure up its idea, I have done this painting by blending the methods of the four masters Dong (Yuan), Ju (-ran), Ma (Yuan) and Xia (Gui). [Done in] a winter month of the year yiwei (probably 1655) to give my friend Qingxia Daoyu a laugh. Li Zai of Putian"
[Qingxia Daoyu may be the mid-17th century Souzhou painter, Gu Ningyuan].
Seals: 1. Li Zai (square, intaglio) 2. Yizheng (square, relief)
(Neither appears in Wang & Contag or in the Palace Museum series Seals and Signatures).
Inscription: Colophons on separate sheet of paper: 1. Zai Lin of Zhejiang, Xiaoshan: 8 lines of xingshu (dated 1711); followed by one seal: Zipei (square, relief) 2. Chen Shen of Jiangsi, Taixian: 8 lines of xingshu (undated); followed by one seal: Guangfu (square, relief) 3. Huang Zimin of Anhwei, Dangtu: 4 lines of regular script (undated); followed by one seal: (?)-xing zhuili bantianxia (square, intaglio) 4. Zeng Ao of Jiangsi, Nancheng, Jinshi 1781: 4 lines of xingshu, on separate piece of paper from first three (dated 1794); followed by one seal: Bingu (tall, rectangle, relief)
Title frontsipiece mounted before painting: Huang Yue (1750–1841). a painter and seal-carver from Anhwei, Dangtuxian; four large characters in semicursive script: "Bijing moshen [Excellent brushwork and wonderful ink]". Followed by two seals: 1. Huang shi Zuotian Yizhai yin (tall, rectangle, intaglio); 2. Hanlin Xueshi (square, relief). Niether seal in Wang & Contag or Palace Museum Seals and Signatures.
Label written on outer cover by unidentified collector (probably 20th c.): "Ming Li Yizheng's handscroll painting after Ma Yuan's 'Layered Peaks and Mountains'".
Marking: Collectors' seals on painting: 1. Wu Rongguang (1773–1843) Guangdun, Nanhaixian painter, calligrapher and collector: Wu Borong shi Biji zhiyin (tall, rectangular, relief). 2. Unidentified (may be Yuan Mei (1716–1797): Jianzhai (square, intaglio)
}}){kind=link}