Lot 24: ATTRIBUTED TO WANG FU 1362-1416

LANDSCAPE IN THE STYLE OF THE ANCIENT MASTERS
signed Wang Fu, dated Yongle jichou (1409), autumn, inscribed ' On an autumnal day of the year jichou during the reign of Yongle (1409), [I] made these eight leaves in imitation of the ancients for my old friend Huilao, a brotherly senior fellow practitioner, to examine and comment. Wang Fu.', with one seal of the artist, Mengduan, and eight collector's seals, xiaowanliu tang, gong, taizhou gongshi jiancang jinshi shuhua zhi yin, jingui lianquan tongcheng wu zhiying fufu gongsuoshang zhiyin, jiazhu nanhu yinyi zihao, xiaowanliu tang, guanzhong huang ziqing cengguan, gong zixing tongdi yufu baozhi

The album has been in the family collection of Gong brothers from Taizhou and Wuxi Lian family's Little Hall of Ten Thousand Willlow Trees collection. Gong Ben'ang (1821-1874), alias Zixing, came from an influential family in Taizhou. He served as a county magistrate in Shangdong. His brother Gong Yu, alias Yufu, held the post of magistrate in Zhili district. Gong Yu excelled in painting landscape after Song masters. His works include the Collection of Nianyutang. Gong brothers are good at connoisseurship and had assembled a massive collection, including over a thousand pieces of fan paintings. They published their fan collections in the six-volume Shuhua Shancun. They bestowed their entire fan collection to Lian Quan, the owner of Little Hall of Ten Thousand Willow Trees, who shared Gong brothers' passion for collecting paintings. Gong brothers always impressed one of the two seals onto their most cherished pieces for later reference. One seal says cherished by both Gong Zixing and brother Yufu, and the other seal states that appreciated by Gong Zixing and Yufu. This album has been one of Gong brothers' favorite pieces, as evidenced by the seal.
Lian Quan (1868-1932), alias Nanhu, is a native of Wuxi. He built and titled his estate as the Little Hall of Ten Thousand Willow Trees. He became a provincial graduate in the twentieth year of Guangxu reign (1894), and retired as the Supervisor in the Ministry of Revenue. He also participated in the Gongche Shangshu movement spearheaded by Kang Youwei. As the founder of Wenming Shuju in Shanghai, he first introduced collotype into China. Lian Quan and his wife Wu Zhiying (1862-1933) were both well-versed in poetry and literature, and excelled in calligraphy and connoisseurship. They shared passions for collecting. They befriended Qiu Jin; after she was martyred, they risked their lives to give her a proper burial. Among the works they published are the Literary Collection of Nanhu, and The Great Collection of Fan Paintings from Ming and Qing Dynasties.
ink and color on paper, album of eight leaves
each 20.3 by 14.9 cm. 8 by 5 7/8 in. (8)