Zhang Daqian before 1965
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Modern China Zhang Daqian Mountains in China
Chronology : 1935 1940-1949 1946 1947 1948
See also : Modern China Zhang Daqian Mountains in China
Chronology : 1935 1940-1949 1946 1947 1948
1935 Heavenly Maiden scattering Flowers
2010 SOLD for RMB 75M by Poly
In 1927 the 29 year old Zhang Daqian was already an established artist. He was guided by a Japanese friend to visit Korea then under Japanese rule. In this travel he was attributed a gisheng, the Korean equivalent to a geisha. He coined a Chinese nickname to her.
Zhang fell mad in love with the charming and clever girl, taking fun of the fact that they did not speak the same language. Despite the anger of Zhang's two wives, the affair lasted until the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937.
Zhang wrote love poems and executed paintings of the young woman. She is his goddess as the Heavenly Maiden scattering Flowers in a color on paper 167 x 72 cm executed in 1935. Its Tang style predates by six years his artistic expedition to Dunhuang.
This hanging scroll was sold for RMB 75M by Poly on December 3, 2010, lot 2979.
Zhang fell mad in love with the charming and clever girl, taking fun of the fact that they did not speak the same language. Despite the anger of Zhang's two wives, the affair lasted until the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937.
Zhang wrote love poems and executed paintings of the young woman. She is his goddess as the Heavenly Maiden scattering Flowers in a color on paper 167 x 72 cm executed in 1935. Its Tang style predates by six years his artistic expedition to Dunhuang.
This hanging scroll was sold for RMB 75M by Poly on December 3, 2010, lot 2979.
1943 Water Moon Guanyin
2017 SOLD for RMB 101M by China Guardian
The Gobi desert was a major ordeal in the Silk Road. The city of Dunhuang was developed under the Han to offer the rest for travelers coming from the desert and courage and goods to those who were to enter it.
This particular situation has generated a very strong Buddhist spirituality. For a millennium, from the Wei to the Yuan, pilgrims have dug shrines into the cliff to worship Buddhism. 492 man-made caves have been counted, some of them no larger than a coffin. Away from the civilization centers, quite in the middle of the vast Asia, Dunhuang offers the most extraordinary testimony of ancient Buddhist sculpture and painting.
In modern times, Zhang Daqian permeates his art with the best Yuan, Ming and Qing pictorial traditions. This attitude will be vilified by Western observers after the second world war. Yet it fits perfectly in the spirit of continuity that governs the Chinese art for three millennia.
In 1941, Zhang decides to spend a few months studying the paintings of Dunhuang. Overwhelmed by the quality of the art of the ancients, he stayed two years and seven months. He copied therein on paper or silk 279 frescoes, on the site despite difficult climatic conditions.
In Dunhuang, Tang paintings are wonderful. Zhang admires the variety of the psychological expression attributed to the different personalities of the Buddhist pantheon, necessary to offer to the pious travelers all the subtlety of the message.
During these sessions, Zhang visited also three times Yulin, 170 km away, whose 25 grottoes contain mural Buddhist paintings from Tang period.
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is a favorite of the faithful in his role of relieving the humans from suffering and of showing the path. He can simultaneously take an unlimited number of appearances to perform the necessary actions for the happiness of the world.
The arrival of Buddhism in China generated important transformations of this bodhisattva who took the name Guanyin. After the Tang dynasty, Guanyin finally lost his mustache, became an androgynous figure and was revered as a female deity.
Under the Song, Buddhism is not dominant. It is contested by the Confucians and competes with Taoism. At this time of strong political power, the Chinese are wary against this foreign religion imported from India.
To fully exercise her vocation, Guanyin must be accessible. The Chinese located her personal paradise where she could be seen in meditation by the lucky ones. This drift no longer meets the Sanskrit canon but generates another one in which 33 main attitudes are described. The statues of the temples simulate the accessibility of Guanyin in her paradise.
The Shuiyue Guanyin in meditation (Guanyin on the reflection of the Moon in Water) is venerated since the transition period between the Tang and Song dynasties. It is indeed a symbol of the basic role of Guanyin of linking earth and sky.
Guanyin is serene and smiling in a posture of royal ease. She sits flexibly on a rock, her body very slightly leaning backwards, one leg bent up and the other resting or hanging.
Zhang Daqian made in or before 1943 a least three paintings copying a Guanyin of the water moon from the Western Xia dynasty, contemporary to the Song, whose original is located in Cave 2 of the Yulin grottoes.
A 1943 example, ink an color on special canvas 160 x 87 cm, was sold for RMB 101M from a lower estimate of RMB 80M by China Guardian on December 18, 2017, lot 428. The image is shared by ChinaDaily. Another one from the same year, hanging scroll in ink and color on paper 153 x 77 cm, passed at Bonhams on November 28, 2022, lot 164.
An upright Avalokiteshvara in red robe from Yulin Cave 17 was copied in same size by Zhang, probably in 1943 during his last stay before leaving the region. This human size hanging scroll in ink and color on a 188 x 91 cm fabric prepared by a lama monk was treasured by Zhang for four decades. The inscriptions were added by him before departing from it. It was sold for HK $ 78M by Sotheby's on April 9, 2024, lot 121. Its colors remain very fresh.
Dated 1943, a smaller hanging scroll 128 x 66 cm of a Dunhuang Avalokiteshvara passed at Sotheby's on September 18, 2014, lot 967.
Dakini, meaning the one who flies, is a Buddhist female goddess, spirit or demon. A Dakini had been copied by Zhang Daqian in his Dunhuang series. In an abstract surrounding, the red skinned deity tramples with one foot a woman while the other leg is bent. This color and gold powder on paper 84 x 53 cm was sold for RMB 64M by Poly on June 4, 2016, lot 3341.
The candid Dakini has the third eye of wisdom. She bears five tiny skulls in her hair and a full length scarf adorned in both sides with hideous cut heads. One hand holds a ritual vessel and the other is raised with a Buddhist attribute. The trampled woman in smaller scale may be a courtesan : she is in full nudity excepted a necklace and pairs of bangles on wrists, arms and ankles.
This particular situation has generated a very strong Buddhist spirituality. For a millennium, from the Wei to the Yuan, pilgrims have dug shrines into the cliff to worship Buddhism. 492 man-made caves have been counted, some of them no larger than a coffin. Away from the civilization centers, quite in the middle of the vast Asia, Dunhuang offers the most extraordinary testimony of ancient Buddhist sculpture and painting.
In modern times, Zhang Daqian permeates his art with the best Yuan, Ming and Qing pictorial traditions. This attitude will be vilified by Western observers after the second world war. Yet it fits perfectly in the spirit of continuity that governs the Chinese art for three millennia.
In 1941, Zhang decides to spend a few months studying the paintings of Dunhuang. Overwhelmed by the quality of the art of the ancients, he stayed two years and seven months. He copied therein on paper or silk 279 frescoes, on the site despite difficult climatic conditions.
In Dunhuang, Tang paintings are wonderful. Zhang admires the variety of the psychological expression attributed to the different personalities of the Buddhist pantheon, necessary to offer to the pious travelers all the subtlety of the message.
During these sessions, Zhang visited also three times Yulin, 170 km away, whose 25 grottoes contain mural Buddhist paintings from Tang period.
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is a favorite of the faithful in his role of relieving the humans from suffering and of showing the path. He can simultaneously take an unlimited number of appearances to perform the necessary actions for the happiness of the world.
The arrival of Buddhism in China generated important transformations of this bodhisattva who took the name Guanyin. After the Tang dynasty, Guanyin finally lost his mustache, became an androgynous figure and was revered as a female deity.
Under the Song, Buddhism is not dominant. It is contested by the Confucians and competes with Taoism. At this time of strong political power, the Chinese are wary against this foreign religion imported from India.
To fully exercise her vocation, Guanyin must be accessible. The Chinese located her personal paradise where she could be seen in meditation by the lucky ones. This drift no longer meets the Sanskrit canon but generates another one in which 33 main attitudes are described. The statues of the temples simulate the accessibility of Guanyin in her paradise.
The Shuiyue Guanyin in meditation (Guanyin on the reflection of the Moon in Water) is venerated since the transition period between the Tang and Song dynasties. It is indeed a symbol of the basic role of Guanyin of linking earth and sky.
Guanyin is serene and smiling in a posture of royal ease. She sits flexibly on a rock, her body very slightly leaning backwards, one leg bent up and the other resting or hanging.
Zhang Daqian made in or before 1943 a least three paintings copying a Guanyin of the water moon from the Western Xia dynasty, contemporary to the Song, whose original is located in Cave 2 of the Yulin grottoes.
A 1943 example, ink an color on special canvas 160 x 87 cm, was sold for RMB 101M from a lower estimate of RMB 80M by China Guardian on December 18, 2017, lot 428. The image is shared by ChinaDaily. Another one from the same year, hanging scroll in ink and color on paper 153 x 77 cm, passed at Bonhams on November 28, 2022, lot 164.
An upright Avalokiteshvara in red robe from Yulin Cave 17 was copied in same size by Zhang, probably in 1943 during his last stay before leaving the region. This human size hanging scroll in ink and color on a 188 x 91 cm fabric prepared by a lama monk was treasured by Zhang for four decades. The inscriptions were added by him before departing from it. It was sold for HK $ 78M by Sotheby's on April 9, 2024, lot 121. Its colors remain very fresh.
Dated 1943, a smaller hanging scroll 128 x 66 cm of a Dunhuang Avalokiteshvara passed at Sotheby's on September 18, 2014, lot 967.
Dakini, meaning the one who flies, is a Buddhist female goddess, spirit or demon. A Dakini had been copied by Zhang Daqian in his Dunhuang series. In an abstract surrounding, the red skinned deity tramples with one foot a woman while the other leg is bent. This color and gold powder on paper 84 x 53 cm was sold for RMB 64M by Poly on June 4, 2016, lot 3341.
The candid Dakini has the third eye of wisdom. She bears five tiny skulls in her hair and a full length scarf adorned in both sides with hideous cut heads. One hand holds a ritual vessel and the other is raised with a Buddhist attribute. The trampled woman in smaller scale may be a courtesan : she is in full nudity excepted a necklace and pairs of bangles on wrists, arms and ankles.
Hong Fu Nu
1
1944 Tang Lady
2013 SOLD for RMB 71M by China Guardian
The 31-month scholar and artistic work of Zhang Daqian in the grottoes of Dunhuang, from 1941 to 1943, have not only helped the Chinese to appreciate their ancient pictorial heritage. Now enjoying a new vision across ages in addition to his flawless technique, Zhang became the best modern Chinese artist.
With their precise thin line drawing, the Tang figures are the best mural art in Dunhuang. After copying, Zhang began to imitate them.
A martial art heroine named Hong Fu Nu from a novel of the Tang dynasty became his inspiration for the ideal glamorous woman. This red sleeved swordswoman is one of the three popular heroes of wind and dust.
In 1944, Zhang performs a sumptuous portrait of this court woman in an elaborate costume, with bright colors on a background dotted with gold. The flexible expression of the woman is inspired by Ming style. This artwork, 125 x 75 cm including the subframe, was sold for RMB 71M from a lower estimate of RMB 12M by China Guardian on May 10, 2013, lot 240.
With their precise thin line drawing, the Tang figures are the best mural art in Dunhuang. After copying, Zhang began to imitate them.
A martial art heroine named Hong Fu Nu from a novel of the Tang dynasty became his inspiration for the ideal glamorous woman. This red sleeved swordswoman is one of the three popular heroes of wind and dust.
In 1944, Zhang performs a sumptuous portrait of this court woman in an elaborate costume, with bright colors on a background dotted with gold. The flexible expression of the woman is inspired by Ming style. This artwork, 125 x 75 cm including the subframe, was sold for RMB 71M from a lower estimate of RMB 12M by China Guardian on May 10, 2013, lot 240.
2
1953 La Beauté Antique
2019 SOLF for HK$ 97M by Holly
In 1953, while in Argentina, Zhang Daqian executes a replica of his Tang Lady with an almost identical drawing, but without gold and fake frame and in a lighter tone.
This ink and color on paper 135 x 57 cm was sold for HK $ 66M by Sotheby's on October 7, 2014, lot 1518 and for HK $ 97M by Holly on May 27, 2019, lot 8. It is catalogued with a title in French, La Beauté Antique, following an exhibition in Paris in 1956.
This ink and color on paper 135 x 57 cm was sold for HK $ 66M by Sotheby's on October 7, 2014, lot 1518 and for HK $ 97M by Holly on May 27, 2019, lot 8. It is catalogued with a title in French, La Beauté Antique, following an exhibition in Paris in 1956.
landscape after ...
Intro
Zhang Daqian permeated his art with the best antique pictorial traditions, including the blue and green paintings from the Sui, Tang and Song. This practice was vilified by Western observers as plagiarism after the second world war. Yet it fits perfectly in the spirit of continuity that governs the Chinese art for three millennia.
1
1946 after Dong Yuan
2017 SOLD for RMB 132M by China Guardian
Active in Nanjing during the Southern Tang dynasty, Dong Yuan developed the Jiangnan style of landscape painting with a highly elegant and effective brush stroke with a great sense of composition including perspective, executed in light ink and color. Along the Riverbank is kept by the Metropolitan Museum. Juran was his pupil.
An interpretation of Dong Yuan by Zhang Daqian is titled Riverside view of splendor.
This hanging scroll in ink and color on paper 187 x 120 cm executed in 1946 was sold for RMB 132M from a lower estimate of RMB 80M by China Guardian on December 18, 2017, lot 263. The image is shared by ChinaDaily.
An interpretation of Dong Yuan by Zhang Daqian is titled Riverside view of splendor.
This hanging scroll in ink and color on paper 187 x 120 cm executed in 1946 was sold for RMB 132M from a lower estimate of RMB 80M by China Guardian on December 18, 2017, lot 263. The image is shared by ChinaDaily.
2
1948 after Wang Ximeng
2022 SOLD for HK$ 370M by Sotheby's
A landscape of rivers and mountains after Wang Ximeng painted in January and February 1948 is a fair example of a transformation performed by Zhang while keeping the spirit and the style of an antique painting. It had not been shown in public since 1983.
Wang was a prodigy artist under the Northern Song dynasty who was taught and commissioned by the Huizong emperor himself. He died in 1119 CE at 23 years old. The unique artwork attributed to him is a handscroll 52 x 1200 cm painted in ink and blue and green colors on silk when he was not yet 18 years old. It is now kept in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
The work by Zhang was to transfer the significant elements of that masterpiece into a 134 x 73 cm hanging scroll of a similar technique. He did not keep the original composition, changing the multi point classical scenery into a modern perspective from a shore while preserving the vastness of the mountain range.
He led the perfection into even copying the seagulls and geese half hidden in the waves. Zhang's make is in fine line and exquisite color including gold flecks that shimmer in the sunlight. The distant mountains are colored in Mogu style.
Landscape after Wang Ximeng was sold for HK $ 370M by Sotheby's on April 30, 2022, lot 3073. Please watch the video shared by the auction house, providing a significant juxtaposition of elements of the antique and modern pictures.
Wang was a prodigy artist under the Northern Song dynasty who was taught and commissioned by the Huizong emperor himself. He died in 1119 CE at 23 years old. The unique artwork attributed to him is a handscroll 52 x 1200 cm painted in ink and blue and green colors on silk when he was not yet 18 years old. It is now kept in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
The work by Zhang was to transfer the significant elements of that masterpiece into a 134 x 73 cm hanging scroll of a similar technique. He did not keep the original composition, changing the multi point classical scenery into a modern perspective from a shore while preserving the vastness of the mountain range.
He led the perfection into even copying the seagulls and geese half hidden in the waves. Zhang's make is in fine line and exquisite color including gold flecks that shimmer in the sunlight. The distant mountains are colored in Mogu style.
Landscape after Wang Ximeng was sold for HK $ 370M by Sotheby's on April 30, 2022, lot 3073. Please watch the video shared by the auction house, providing a significant juxtaposition of elements of the antique and modern pictures.
3
later 1940s after Juran
2016 SOLD for RMB 103M by China Guardian
Juran was a landscape painter in the 10th century CE at the court of the Southern Tang in Nanjing when they were overwhelmed by the Northern Song.
His 145 x 55 cm hanging scroll in ink on silk Storied Mountains and Dense Forests is kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
A replica made by Zhang Daqian in the later 1940s, ink and color on paper 170 x 85 cm, was sold for RMB 103M from a lower estimate of RMB 68M by China Guardian on November 12, 2016, lot 724. It is illustrated in the post sale release shared by China Daily.
His 145 x 55 cm hanging scroll in ink on silk Storied Mountains and Dense Forests is kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
A replica made by Zhang Daqian in the later 1940s, ink and color on paper 170 x 85 cm, was sold for RMB 103M from a lower estimate of RMB 68M by China Guardian on November 12, 2016, lot 724. It is illustrated in the post sale release shared by China Daily.
1947 Lotus and Mandarin Ducks
2011 SOLD for HK$ 190M by Sotheby's
The 31-month scholar and artistic work of Zhang Daqian in the grottoes of Dunhuang, from 1941 to 1943, have not only helped the Chinese to appreciate their ancient pictorial heritage. Now enjoying a new vision across ages in addition to his flawless technique, he is able to create masterpieces in the widest variety of themes.
On November 27, 2018, Christie's sold for HK $ 59M a scroll in ink and color on paper 165 x 82 cm painted in 1943 on the theme of the lotus, lot 1376. 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.
A 185 x 95 cm scroll painted in 1947 coming from the Mei Yun Tang collection was sold for HK $ 190M by Sotheby's on May 31, 2011 from a lower estimate of HK $ 15M, lot 4.
Compared with the other example above, its composition is less readable : the birds partially hidden behind the stems no longer constitute a focusing point of the image.
On November 27, 2018, Christie's sold for HK $ 59M a scroll in ink and color on paper 165 x 82 cm painted in 1943 on the theme of the lotus, lot 1376. 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.
A 185 x 95 cm scroll painted in 1947 coming from the Mei Yun Tang collection was sold for HK $ 190M by Sotheby's on May 31, 2011 from a lower estimate of HK $ 15M, lot 4.
Compared with the other example above, its composition is less readable : the birds partially hidden behind the stems no longer constitute a focusing point of the image.
1947 set of four scrolls
2013 SOLD for HK$ 80M by Christie's
Zhang Daqian was a talented and prolific artist. His success is also due to his vocation for teaching, which makes him simultaneously varying styles and themes. In 1934, only aged 35, he is a professor at Nanjing University.
His innovative processing of colors follows his scholar work on the frescoes in the ancient caves of Dunhuang. The lotus is a great theme to express this new research.
On May 28, 2013, Christie's sold as a single lot for HK$ 80M from a lower estimate of HK$ 10M a set of four hanging scrolls made in 1947, 154 x 78 cm each, showing lotus in ink and colors, lot 1387.
The various compositions reflect the imagination of the artist, but the color treatment is the most remarkable. The four works are indeed very different, ranging from classical discrete tones to a sumptuous juxtaposition of color washes. In this group of works the ducks did not come.
The most colorful of the four images is very close by its color harmony to a scroll from the same year, 185 x 95 cm, which was sold for HK $ 190M by Sotheby's in 2011.
His innovative processing of colors follows his scholar work on the frescoes in the ancient caves of Dunhuang. The lotus is a great theme to express this new research.
On May 28, 2013, Christie's sold as a single lot for HK$ 80M from a lower estimate of HK$ 10M a set of four hanging scrolls made in 1947, 154 x 78 cm each, showing lotus in ink and colors, lot 1387.
The various compositions reflect the imagination of the artist, but the color treatment is the most remarkable. The four works are indeed very different, ranging from classical discrete tones to a sumptuous juxtaposition of color washes. In this group of works the ducks did not come.
The most colorful of the four images is very close by its color harmony to a scroll from the same year, 185 x 95 cm, which was sold for HK $ 190M by Sotheby's in 2011.
1947 Summer Mountain Hermitage
2021 SOLD for RMB 72M by China Guardian
After coming back from Dunhuang, Zhang Daqian manages to copy, imitate or be inspired by old Chinese masters.
Summer Mountain Hermitage is displaying a towering mountain and its waterfall feeding a fertile valley in an imitation of Wang Meng's 14th century CE masterpiece Ge Zhichuan relocating.
This hanging scroll in ink and color on paper 160 x 63 cm painted in 1947 was sold for HK $ 72M from a lower estimate of HK $ 50M by China Guardian on December 12, 2021, lot 288.
Summer Mountain Hermitage is displaying a towering mountain and its waterfall feeding a fertile valley in an imitation of Wang Meng's 14th century CE masterpiece Ge Zhichuan relocating.
This hanging scroll in ink and color on paper 160 x 63 cm painted in 1947 was sold for HK $ 72M from a lower estimate of HK $ 50M by China Guardian on December 12, 2021, lot 288.
