After spending two and a half years from 1941 to 1943 copying ancient figurative art in the Dunhuang Caves, Zhang Daqian is able to create artworks in the widest variety of themes.
On November 27 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells a scroll in ink and color on paper 165 x 82 cm painted in 1943, lot 1376 estimated HK $ 30M, on the theme of the lotus.
With its bright red flowers outlined in gold, this artwork is mostly a study of colors. In a bold but balanced composition, another theme appears without seeking a coherence of scales : a small pair of mandarin ducks lying in the background gives the plants a tree-like height. These birds are a symbol of conjugal fidelity.
This double theme of lotus and ducks is very rare in Zhang's art. A 185 x 95 cm scroll painted in 1947 coming from the Mei Yun Tang collection was sold for HK $ 190M including premium by Sotheby's on May 31, 2011 over a lower estimate of HK $ 15M. Its composition is less legible : the ducks partially hidden behind the stems no longer constitute a focal point of the image.
With a comparable chromatic balance but also including white lotus flowers, a set of four scrolls made in 1947, 154 x 78 cm each, was sold for HK $ 80M including premium by Christie's on May 27, 2013. In this group of works the ducks did not come.
SOLD for HK$ 59M including premium
On November 27 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells a scroll in ink and color on paper 165 x 82 cm painted in 1943, lot 1376 estimated HK $ 30M, on the theme of the lotus.
With its bright red flowers outlined in gold, this artwork is mostly a study of colors. In a bold but balanced composition, another theme appears without seeking a coherence of scales : a small pair of mandarin ducks lying in the background gives the plants a tree-like height. These birds are a symbol of conjugal fidelity.
This double theme of lotus and ducks is very rare in Zhang's art. A 185 x 95 cm scroll painted in 1947 coming from the Mei Yun Tang collection was sold for HK $ 190M including premium by Sotheby's on May 31, 2011 over a lower estimate of HK $ 15M. Its composition is less legible : the ducks partially hidden behind the stems no longer constitute a focal point of the image.
With a comparable chromatic balance but also including white lotus flowers, a set of four scrolls made in 1947, 154 x 78 cm each, was sold for HK $ 80M including premium by Christie's on May 27, 2013. In this group of works the ducks did not come.
SOLD for HK$ 59M including premium
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