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Hi,

My father was given this painting in Japan in the 1950s by a professor in thanks for some translation work my father provided. The story is that this painting is by Wang Chong (1994-1533) who was a well know calligrapher. The only painting by Wang Chong that I could find was in a book by James Cahill, and Cahill, at least at the time of the book (late 1970's), thought that the painting was the only one that could be authenticated as by Wang Chong.

I doubt that this is real, but I was wondering what the writing on the scroll reads and if anyone knows of other paintings by Wang Chong.

Thanks,

Jim

Jim
Here is a link to Wang Chong's information
in the Zhejiang Library database
http://diglweb.zjlib.cn:8081/zjtsg/zgjcj/cyxl.jsp?channelid=91724&record=21
The seal on your painting is not of the 39 listed.
Mutual Art has over 20 works sold at auction for
Wang Chong. The cursive calligraphy on your painting
appears to be a stylistic match to other works
credited to Wang Chong. Good luck.

Hi John,

Thanks for sharing the link to his seals. You are quite right that a lot of his works (all calligraphy) come up at auction. This evening I found a recent sale at Sotheby's (URL follows)
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/fine-classical-chinese-paintings-calligraphy-n09663/lot.801.html
When I look at the first seal, it's not the same as the seal on my painting, but it has similar if not all the same lines. I don't know much about seals -- maybe it means that whoever painted this scroll did a poor copy of Wang Chong's seal. Glad to hear that you think that there are stylistic similarities compared to known works. I don't have the competence to know. Not sure where to go from here to find out more.

Thanks, Jim

I agree that the signature looks convincing; here is a fan (that includes a Jiaqing seal) with a very similar rendition of the signature in the middle of the second column from the left:

http://www.9610.com/wangchong/20.jpg

Wang is known for his calligraphy, his paintings are less well-known, will see if I can find some to compare yours to.

I hope that you are able to find another example of his painting. The only painting that I have been able to find is one in James Cahill's "Parting at the Shore" on Ming Dynasty painters. I guess there might be some similarities, but I think the painting is of a higher caliber than my dad's.

Speaking of paintings by calligraphers, here is one with a note in the box said that it is by Wen Peng. It's mounted on a hanging scroll, but its very small -- maybe 6" x 10". I imagine that it is a leaf from an album. A few years ago I showed it to an Asian art expert at a regional auction house. He looked at it for about 2 seconds and said "no way, its on a Japanese mount". Personally, it seems to be in too good shape to be that old, and I don't think that it has the artistic quality of the paintings that I have seen by Wen Peng. Curious to hear what the signature and seal say and what you think.

Thanks,

Jim

Jim
Here's a copy of a piece in Christie's May 29
Hong Kong auction.

I hadn't see this one - Thanks.

When I compare this one with the characters in the painting, I see some similarities. It also seems like the characters in the painting are much tighter or compressed, whereas in the Christies piece they seem more relaxed. To me, it's not like one Donald Trump signature looking the same as all the others. I'm not quite sure what to think -- not convinced one way or another.

Thanks, Jim

Finally had a moment to look at the Wang Chong painting Cahill reproduced in Parting at the Shore and it seems clear to me that your picture is not by Wang. I'll elaborate in a separate post. I didn't find any other paintings by Wang in an initial search, except for a peony done in boneless style that precedes a lengthy calligraphy handscroll of his that is now in the Shanghai Museum.

Hi Rat,

Thanks for the info. I thought from the beginning that it wasn't likely that this was painted by Wang Chong, although you guys got me wondering when you started talking about similarities in the signature. I am curious about what you saw in the painting in the Cahill book that tells you that this is not a Wang Chong.

Jim

Sorry for the delayed reply. This morning I had a chance to check the compendia of Chinese paintings in museums and prominent private collections around the world that are published in various iterations of 中国绘画综合图录. There wasn't anything by Zhang Cong listed, so there aren't any plausible new candidates to add to the sample of one that we have via Cahill. (I wonder how we know that it is indeed by Zhang; Cahill wasn't infallible.)

I expect that you have a decent anonymous picture to which the signature of Wang Chong was copied from a piece of his calligraphy. At first I thought it was a Qing (Chinese) painting (possibly it is), but now think--given its subtle color, the scale of the figure and pine bark relative to the overall painting, their positioning in the close foreground, the patterning of tonality in the pine needles, and the elimination of depth created by the juxtaposition of the lowest tree branch against the hut's roof and the supposedly receding background behind it--that this may instead be a nice anonymous Japanese painting.

The real issue is that after looking at the painting Cahill ascribes to Wang Chong I just can't see any stylistic similarities between them. It's certainly true that some real virtuosos (Zhao Mengfu say, or Zhang Daqian) could create great paintings in several radically different styles of coloring, composition, brushwork, etc, it seems just too far a stretch to believe that the person who did the stubbly yet effectively descriptive Yuan-style brushwork to depict the austere landscape in Cahill's book is the same person who painted a radically different composition, with more polished and more conventionalized brushwork, in pleasing color that counterbalances some of the patterned repetitiveness of the monochrome brushstrokes but otherwise contributes little directly in and of itself. (...particularly when Wang wasn't known for his paintings and there aren't any other examples to compare yours to)

Which is not to say that your painting is a bad painting: it's visually stimulating and decently rendered. I just don't see how anything but its inscription (and seal) relates to Wang Chong. Would be nice though!

Hi Rat,

First, thank you for all the time and effort you put into researching this.

I had not thought of it before, but I think that you are likely right that this painting may be by a Japanese artist. My father was given the painting in Japan by a Japanese academic. I also believe that it is on a Japanese mount. My father had purchased
another painting in Japan that he thought was painted by Ch'en Hung-Shou (1768-1822) I have been told by someone who looked at a picture of it that it is also a Japanese copy. Its a very nice painting and the comments that you made on this painting, about the use of color, could apply to the other painting too. I'll try to share some pictures of it soon in another post.

One last comment on this "Wang Chong". Its an older painting for sure, but I'd be surprised if it is the 500 years old it would need to be to be authentic.

Thanks again for your help.

Jim

Thanks for your message, I look forward to seeing the other picture. FYI there are two artists whose names can be transliterated as Ch'en Hung-sh'ou (the characters differ but they are transliterated into English as Ch'en Hung-sh'ou). One lived 1598-1652, the other 1768-1822. In your case you have a picture attributed to the lesser known of the two artists.

Hi Rat,

In case you haven't seen it, I did post the "Chen Hung Shou" about a week ago. Here is the link:
http://www.asianart.com/phpforum/index.php?method=detailAll&Id=101001
I'd be very interested to hear what you think about it.

Thanks, Jim

Sorry, I had missed it, thanks for the link. The inscription is signed as being by the Qing Chen Hongshou 陳鴻壽 (1768-1822) (the seal reads the same), not the better known Ming Chen Hongshou 陳洪綬 (1598-1635). It's a nice painting but is wholly Japanese in both painting brushwork and calligraphy (and mounting) even though the inscription is written as if it is by Chen himself. One problem with the inscription though is that it gives a date that does not exist: it states that it was painted in the dingmao 丁卯 year of the Qianlong reign, or 1747, two decades before Chen was born. The only dingmao year during Chen's life was 1807, which is more plausible since Chen was alive then but for the fact that Qianlong stepped down from the throne in 1795 and died in 1799. There's only a plausible date there if what I am reading as mao 卯 is actually something else, but in any case it's a trivial point because the painting isn't by Chen. Rather someone came along and added "Chen's" inscription to an anonymous Japanese picture.

My understanding is that the actual Chen primarily painted small studies of plants and food items (he was also a poet and seal carver but may be best known as a calligrapher), so a landscape seems out of the ordinary to begin with. You can find examples of his work that has come up at auction online. There's also a book written about him.

Here are two examples of Chen's calligraphy in a similar script, which as you can see are quite different from that on your painting:
https://learninglab.si.edu/resources/view/89694/search
https://learninglab.si.edu/resources/view/72277/search

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