Lot 2213: WEN SHU (1595-1634)

WEN SHU (1595-1634)
Butterflies and Flowers
Inscribed and signed, with two seals of the artist
Two collectors' seals
Fan leaf, mounted and framed, ink and colour on gold-flecked paper
17 x 48 cm. (6 5/8 x 18 7/8 in.)

Property of Professor Hu Xiaoshi

Professor Hu Xiaoshi (1888-1962) was one of the most erudite and accomplished scholars of Chinese literature and ancient texts and scripts in the twentieth century. A native of Nanjing, Hu was strongly influenced by the educator, calligrapher, and reformer Li Ruiqing (1867-1920). After graduating from the Liangjiang Youji Shifan Xuetang, later Nanjing University, Hu taught at institutes of higher learning throughout China, including in Yunnan, Sichuan, and Beijing, although most of his career was spent at Nanjing University. Professor Hu studied and taught a very wide range of ancient literary forms, including ancient Buddhist texts, Han clerical records, and bronze inscriptions, to name just a very few, and published numerous studies of them. He was also an expert in the script types used to write these early texts, and they profoundly informed his own calligraphy. Hu Xiaoshi was considered one of the foremost masters of calligraphy in Nanjing during the 1950s. When teaching calligraphy, he urged students not to imitate his own personal style, but to study ancient models so that their writing would be based on the origins of the tradition. His years as an artist and teacher brought him into contact with many other artists, in particular Fu Baoshi. The two occasionally collaborated on art works, such as painting and inscribing fans, and Professor Hu acquired works from other friends by exchange. The work offered here remained in Professor Hu's family by descent. The collection also included works by Fu Baoshi and others in the sale of Fine Chinese Modern Paintings, Lots 2669-2671.