Chinese Paintings
12th century - 20th century
Processed by Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Guenter Waibel
© 2002
The Regents of the University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
Note
Arts and Humanities--Art--Painting
Geographical (By Place)--Asia
Chinese Paintings
12th century - 20th century
Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
UC Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
- Processed by:
- Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive staff
- Date Completed:
- 9/23/2002
- Encoded by:
- Guenter Waibel
© 2002 The Regents of the University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Chinese Paintings
Date (inclusive): 12th century - 20th century
Repository:
Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
This collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright resides with the Regents of the University of California. For permission to reproduce images from the collection
of the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, please address inquiries to Rights and Reproductions, fax number: 510-642-4889.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Chinese Paintings Collection, Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley.
Scope and Content
Of the approximately 150 Chinese paintings in this collection guide, the majority were originally collected by UC Berkeley
Professor Emeritus James Cahill and the Cahill family. The Cahill family collections, known historically as the Ching Yüan
Chai Collection, are arguably among the finest in the western United States, representing virtually every period of Chinese
painting over the last 900 years. The collections consist of works from the Sung, Yüan, Ming, and Ch'ing dynasties, including
major figure paintings and bird-and-flower paintings. The greatest strength, however, is landscape paintings. Considered the
highest category of painting in China, the landscape embodies the ideals of the Confucian scholar. This is the area of Chinese
art in which we find the most daring experiments, the greatest developments, and the most intense art historical scrutiny.
Professor Cahill began collecting Chinese paintings in 1955 while on a Fulbright fellowship in Japan, where he was completing
his dissertation on fourteenth-century (Yüan) painting. It was there that a noted Japanese scholar bestowed the name Ching
Yüan Chai, which roughly translates as "Studio of One Who Is Looking Intently at the Yüan Dynasty." Throughout his long teaching
career James Cahill used these collections as a means of gaining a better personal understanding of art, as an opportunity
to explore areas of connoisseurship, and as a tool for teaching others these same disciplines. For Cahill, collecting meaningfully
enriched the scope and depth of his comprehension of the intricacies of Chinese painting and culture. Cahill has remarked,
"collecting has deepened my understanding of Chinese painting…forcing me to make judgments of quality and authenticity." Professor
Cahill has likened his pursuit of Chinese paintings to the eleventh-century poet Sun Tung-p'o's allusion:
"It is like clouds and mists passing before my eyes, or the songs of birds striking my ears. How could I help but derive joy
from my contact with these things? But when they are gone, I think no more about them. In this way, these two things [painting
and calligraphy] are a constant pleasure to me, but not an affliction."
-- Su Tung-p'o, eleventh-century statesman, poet, and connoisseur, on collecting. Translation by James Cahill
Professor Cahill and family members, through gift and purchase, have passed on key works from their collections to the university
at which he taught for over thirty years. These paintings will remain at Berkeley for generations of students to examine and
study, and experience the joy of working with actual masterworks of art.
The descriptive notes accompanying the artworks included in the Collection Guide largely carry the familiar "voice" of James
Cahill, Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, who has generously commented on the artwork from the perspective of connoisseurship,
collecting, and teaching. Additional biographical and art historical comments are presented in order to place the paintings
in historical context. These comments are provided by Julia M. White, Curator of Asian Art at the Honolulu Academy of Arts,
and Guest Curator of the UC Berkeley Art Museum Exhibition Masterworks of Chinese Painting: In Pursuit of Mists and Clouds.
Wade-Giles, the first name cited in each item's record in the Collection Guide, is a system of transliteration that was developed
in the early part of the 20th century. Pinyin, the second name, in parentheses, is the same character utilizing a system
of transliteration of Chinese characters developed in the People's Republic of China in the later part of the 20th
century.
The "t" and "h" preceding the descriptive notes stand for tz'u (zi) the artist's style name and hao (hao) the artist's pen
name. Chinese artists frequently sign their works with these alternate names.
Lucinda Barnes
Senior Curator for Collections
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
scroll paintings
Subjects and Indexing Terms
China
Fisherman Returning on a Wintery Day
late 15 - early 16 century A.D.
1969.43
Creator/Collector:
Chiang Sung
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on silk
China
h 53 x w 18 -1/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of William S. Picher and Walter C. Goodman in honor of James Cahill
Waterfall on Mt. Lu
17 century A.D.
1971.15
Creator/Collector:
Sheng, Mao-yeh
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on silk
China
h 81 -1/2 x w 39 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Museum Purchase
Landscape
17 century A.D.
1971.69
Creator/Collector:
Kung Hsien (Gong Xian)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on satin
China
h 13 -7/8 x w 19 -5/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Roger S. Spang
Old Man Painting Screen in House, Boy Servant
early 17 century A.D.
1971.75
Creator/Collector:
Unknown; School of Ch'in Ying
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 43 -1/4 x w 19 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Hay Bechtel
Landscape
19 century A.D.
1973.38
Creator/Collector:
Shen Shichong (Shen Shih-Ch'ung?)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 61 -1/2 x w 26 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Roger S. Spang
Landscape with Houses, Figures and Goats
1719
1973.41
Creator/Collector:
Yuan Chiang
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 62 -3/4 x w 30 -5/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. Eugene C. Gaenslen, Jr.
Winter Landscape with Man in House
n.d.
1975.32
Creator/Collector:
Sung, Lo (attributed to)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 48 -3/4 x w 21 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. Eugene C. Gaenslen, Jr.
Landscape with Two Men in a Boat
17 century A.D.
1980.16
Creator/Collector:
Hsiang Sheng-mo
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on paper
China
h 26 -1/4 x w 12 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Acquired by exchange from C. C. Wang
Trees by a River
17 century A.D.
1980.18
Creator/Collector:
Wang Chien-chang
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 54 -3/4 x w 21 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of James and Dorothy Cahill
Landscape with Figures
17 century A.D.
1980.37
Creator/Collector:
Fan Ch'i ( Fan Qi)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and light colors on silk
China
h 71 -1/2 x w 32 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. Roger Spang
Solitary Angler on Wintry Lake
1659
1980.42.14
Creator/Collector:
Lan Ying
Physical Description:
Painting
fan: ink and color on paper, wood
China
h 8 -3/4 x w 19 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Untitled
19 century A.D.
1980.42.16
Creator/Collector:
Li, Chü-p'ing
Physical Description:
Painting
mounted fan: ink and colors on paper
China
h 11 -7/8 x w 24 -3/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Landscape
1579
1980.42.1
Creator/Collector:
Chang Hung
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on silk
China
h 9 -1/4 x w 7 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Landscape
1980.42.20
Creator/Collector:
Tai Hsi
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 47 x w 24 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Figures in Landscape
16 century A.D.
1980.42.23
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 21 -13/16 x w 29 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Landscape with Taoist Immortals
18 century A.D.
1980.42.2
Creator/Collector:
Chang Pei
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on silk
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Figures in Garden
late 17 - early 18 century A.D.
1980.42.8
Creator/Collector:
Hsiao Ch'en
Physical Description:
Painting
Fan mounted as hanging scroll: ink and color on gold paper
China
h 9 x w 20 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Pine, Rock and Mushroom
1878
1980.42.9
Creator/Collector:
Hu Yuan
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on paper
China
h 52 x w 16 -5/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
River Landscape
18 century A.D.
1983.24.3
Creator/Collector:
Ma Jui
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on silk;
China
h 50 -1/2 x w 20 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. Eugene C. Gaenslen, Jr.
Landscape with Two Seated Scholars (in the manner of Chiang Sung)
1550
1983.24.4
Creator/Collector:
Unknown; Che School artist.
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 60 x w 35 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. Eugene C. Gaenslen, Jr.
Clearing Sky in Autumn over Misty Peaks
1613
1983.9
Creator/Collector:
Chao Tso
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on paper
China
h 52 x w 24 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchased with the aid of funds from Dr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon
Landscape of a Poem
1844
1986.6
Creator/Collector:
Tang I-Fen
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 39 -1/4 x w 19 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. Roger S. Spang
Landscape (in the manner of Tsan Ni )
17 century A.D.
1987.20
Creator/Collector:
Hsu Tsai (Yu)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on satin
China
h 51 -3/8 x w 18 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of James and Dorothy Cahill
Landscape (in the manner of Kung-Wang Huang)
17 century A.D.
1988.13
Creator/Collector:
Wang Chien (attributed to)
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on paper
China
h 28 -1/4 x w 15 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dorothy Cahill
Man and Servant Searching for Plum Blossoms; Gibbon in a Tree
17- early 18 century A.D.
1990.13
Creator/Collector:
Wang Hui (attributed to)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and light color on silk
China
h 36 -1/2 x w 14 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of James Cahill
Landscape with Waterfall
18 century A.D.
1994.31
Creator/Collector:
Hu, Shih-Ch'a
Physical Description:
Painting
album leaf mounted as hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 54 -1/4 x w 14 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dorothy Dunlap Cahill
Landscape with Cranes
1638
1997.28
Creator/Collector:
Ch'en Kuan (Chen Kuan)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 78 x w 38 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Museum purchase
Description
t: Meng-hsien
h: Hsing-an
Inscription by the artist: "Cranes nesting in the pine trees everywhere, people visiting the wicker gate are few. On an auspicious
day in the first month of the mou-yin [1638] Ch'en Kuan painted this as a present for Mr. Ming-tai." Translation by Marsha
Smith Weidner.
Ch'en Kuan was a noted painter, calligrapher, and poet from Suchou in Chechiang province. Here Ch'en pays homage to the early
Ming master Wen Cheng-ming, using that artist's cool-warm coloration, tall stately pines, and well-defined layered mountains.
This landscape painting is actually a "birthday painting," or a work commissioned as a present for a friend. From the artist's
inscription it is clear that this painting was presented to a Mr. Ming-tai in this way.
Man and Servant Beneath Trees
1616
1997.4.1
Creator/Collector:
Shen Shih-ch'ung (Shen Shichong))
Physical Description:
Painting
Album leaf, ink and light colors on paper
China
h 12 x w 9 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from Jane Lurie
Description
t: Tzu-chü
Shen Shih-ch'ung was from Hua-t'ing, Chiangsu province, and was a pupil of first Sung Mou-chin and later Chao Tso, who became
one of the most famous Yün-chien school artists. The artists of this tradition painted landscapes with an atmospheric quality
and frequently their paintings take on a slightly hazy look.
This school's first master was Sung Hsü, whose work is also shown here. Historically the Yün-chien (the old name of the region
of Sung-chiang) school was held in contrast to the Hua-t'ing (named for the county and city) school, whose major exponent
was the theoritican and painter Tung Ch'i-chang. Shen displays the typical Yün-chien school flare for beautiful and expert
brushwork, particularly in the handling of the autumn trees and densely textured rocks.
Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines
mid to late 13 century A.D.
1999.24
Creator/Collector:
Kuo Min (Guo Min)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk
China
h 49 -1/4 x w 22 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible by gifts from Jane Lurie and Nancy Chew, through the donations of Albert A. M. Bender, Mrs. Anson S.
Blake, William E. Colby, the Estate of Sallie Frances Devine, Arthur F. Landeson and the proceeds of the 1998 Asian Art and
Fumpon Sale.
Description
t: Po-ta
Kuo Min was a late Sung, early Yüan painter whose works are quite rare. He was from Ch'i-hsien in Honan province and was known
as a painter of landscapes, figures, flowers, and ink bamboo. He worked in a style and developed compositions that are associated
with Northern Sung painters like Kuo Hsi and Li Ch'eng.
Following the Li-Kuo style, Kuo Min builds up forms to create this composition of towering mountains fraught with looming
overhangs. This unstable landscape creates a tension that is further heightened by the bleakness of winter.
The painting is signed between two trees at the bottom right.
Landscape with Figures
1538
1999.45.2
Creator/Collector:
Wen Cheng-ming
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 65 -1/4 x w 13 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Hsingyuan Tsao and James Cahill
Walking on a Path Among Flowers
15-early 16 century A.D.
1999.45.3
Creator/Collector:
Shen, Chou
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of James Cahill and Hsingyuan Tsao
Winter Landscape in the manner of Li Cheng
1669
2000.30
Creator/Collector:
Gao Jian (Kao, Chien)
Physical Description:
Painting
album leaf: light color on paper
China
h 10 -1/2 x w 12 -15/16 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through gifts from Nancy and Don Chew and the Ching Wah Lee Memorial Fund
Winter Landscape
17 century A.D.
2000.55.1
Creator/Collector:
Mei, Ch'ing ( Mei Qing)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 69 -1/2 x w 21 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Hsingyuan Tsao and James Cahill
Landscape with Houses among Trees
1591
2000.55.3
Creator/Collector:
Wu Pin
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 47 -1/2 x w 18 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Hsingyuan Tsao and James Cahill
Landscape with Man in House
1671
2000.55.5
Creator/Collector:
Shih,T'ao (Shitao or Tao-chi)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 40 x w 13 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Hsingyuan Tsao and James Cahill
Landscape
1544
2000.55.7
Creator/Collector:
Hsieh Shih-ch'en
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on paper
China
h 23 -1/2 x w 11 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Hsingyuan Tsao and James Cahill
Tall Landscape with Buildings
17 - early 18 century A.D.
2000.55.8
Creator/Collector:
Unknown; seals of Wu Li
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on paper
China
h 51 -1/4 x w 14 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Hsingyuan Tsao and James Cahill
Summer Trees Casting Shade
15 century A.D.
2000.7
Creator/Collector:
Tai Chin (Dai Jin)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 78 x w 42 -1/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through gifts from an anonymous donor, Robert Bloch, the Warren King Family, Jane Lurie, Kirsten and
Terry Michelson, and other Friends of the Asian Gallery
Description
t: Wen-chin
h: Ching-an
Tai Chin was from Ch'ien-t'ang, Chechiang province, and eventually settled in Hangchou. His talent as a painter was recognized
early in his life, but through what appears to have been considerable envy from powerful adversaries, he was unable to sustain
a position at court. At one time, around 1425, he was summoned to court, but soon returned to his home province. His landscapes
are in the styles of Ma Yüan and Hsia Kuei, but show greater complexity of depth and composition. He is regarded as the principal
master of the Che School.
This large scroll, originally badly mounted, was discovered by Cahill in an auction in which one would not expect to find
major works by major artists. After identifying the genuine Tai Chin seal, which had been covered by brocade, Cahill began
working more carefully on the authenticity of the painting.
"Indeed it was a Tai Chin seal, corresponding to one on a famous painting in Shanghai. Then I began working on style. I didn't
believe that it could be Tai Chin for a time, but the more I looked, the better it was." Cahill had the painting remounted
and during this time discovered, with the help of the well-known dealer and connoisseur Cheng Chi, that the painting had a
title in the upper right consistent with a known painting in the famous sixteenth-century collection of the wicked Prime Minister
Yen Sung. Cheng Chi theorized that the owner's seal had been cut off when the official was overthrown for political reasons.
"In any case, it is a major Tai Chin and I realized later when looking at it that it corresponds very nicely with a [noted]
painting in Shanghai. It has become one of the masterworks of the artist partly because of the large size and the very impressive
composition based loosely on the Kuo Hsi painting Early Spring (1072)."
Album of Twelve Landscapes in Old Styles
1666
CC.212
Creator/Collector:
Wang Chien
Physical Description:
Painting
album: ink on paper
China
h 14 x w 10 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
t: Yuän-chao
h: Hsiang-pi, Lien-chou, Jan-hsiang an-chu
From T'ai-ts'ang, Chiangsu
The second of the "Four Wangs," and one of the "Nine Friends in Painting," Wang Chien came from a family dedicated to learning
and painting. He was a follower of Tung Ch'i-chang and copied from the Yüan masters, developing a conservative approach to
landscape composition. He was for a time governor of Lien-chou, Kuangtung province but was more interested in painting than
politics and retired from public life.
Sunset in an Autumn Valley: Landscape with Man in House
1544
2002.2.3
Creator/Collector:
Shen Shih (Shen Shi)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 38 x w 12 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
Shen Shih was from Suchou but had also lived in Nanking. He studied the Sung and Yüan masters as well as the professional
artists T'ang Yin and Ch'iu Ying and is said to have copied old paintings. Only a few works carry his own signature.
In this autumn landscape we see more of the influence of the Wu school master Wen Cheng-ming. Shen Shih's light and deft
brushwork are reminiscent of other better-known painters like Shen Chou. The two poetic inscriptions on the top right of
this work are by Wen Po-jen (nephew of Wen Cheng-ming, whose work is in the exhibition) and another Shen Shih. The artist
Shen Shih indicates it was painted for Mr. Chu-lin of Nanking.
Old Trees and Landscape (in the tradition of Miu Fu (15th c.))
mid 15 century A.D.
2002.2.6
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China, Ming
h 44 x w 16 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
A tradition of painting old, gnarled trees began as early as the Northern Sung period and extended throughout Chinese painting
history. Li Ch'eng (919-967) was one of the most famous artists known for depictions of rough old trees in landscape. The
Ming artist Wen Cheng-ming continued the tradition that allowed for great expression to be lent to a simple twisting of trunks.
Autumn Trees by the River
17 century A.D.
CM.28
Creator/Collector:
Ch'en Hung-shou (Chen Hungshou)
Physical Description:
Painting
Fan painting: ink and color on gold paper
China
h 9 -1/2 x w 18 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Landscape with Portraits of Scholars
1648
CM.48
Creator/Collector:
Lan Ying; Hsieh Pin ( Xie Bin)
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll: ink and colors on paper
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Sarah Cahill Collection
Old Tree and Bamboo (in the manner of Wu Chen (1280-1354))
1559
2002.1.3
Creator/Collector:
Hsieh Shih-ch'en (Xie Shichen)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 41 -1/4 x w 21 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
t: Ssu-chung
h: Ch'u-hsien
Hsieh Shih-ch'en was from Suchou and spent most of his life painting there. His family was wealthy yet he appears to have
become a professional painter in a town that was just beginning to gain prominence for both amateur and professional painters.
It is recorded that he followed Shen Chou's style adding bits of his own and other professional painters' ideas to the mix.
He is best known as a landscape painter with a very deft and versatile brush.
River Landscape
14 century A.D.
2002.2.5
Creator/Collector:
Ma Wan (attributed to)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll, ink on silk
China
h 33 -3/4 x w 20 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
t: Wen-pi
h: Lu-ch'un or Lu-tun
Ma Wan was a follower of Tung Yüan, Mi Fu, and the Yüan master Huang Kung-wang. He adopted the philosophy of Huang and other
Yüan masters of using landscape painting as a means of self-expression. Although possessing a classical education, as a loyalist
he chose reclusion away from society rather than serve the foreign reign of the Mongols. On their demise in 1368 he returned
to civil service under the Hong-wu emperor. This loyal and upright attitude pervaded much of Yüan period painting circles.
Winter Landscape
12 century A.D.
CY.19
Creator/Collector:
Unknown; Chao Ling-jang (School of)
Physical Description:
Painting
album leaf: ink on silk
China
h 9 -3/8 x w 9 -5/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Landscape with Buildings
early 14 century A.D.
CY.8
Creator/Collector:
Sun Chün-tse (Sun Junze)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China,
h 73 x w 44 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Sarah Cahill Collection
Description
Although the major trends in Yüan period painting were taking a radical departure from the Academy styles of Hangchou, a small
group of painters continued the elegant and idealized depictions of real nature seen in Southern Sung painting. Sun Chün-tse
was one who pursued this Ma-Hsia tradition, often, as here, on a larger scale. Little is known of his life, only that he was
from Hangchou, which was perhaps the greatest influence in his following the earlier styles from the academy of painting that
had been centered there.
"The signature, in the lower left corner, deliberately obscured by a brushstroke of ink but readable under strong light, matches
those on several works by this artist that were preserved in Japan. This [painting was] misrepresented, the signature painted
over and a label saying it's a Sung work, certainly by Ma Yüan (active 1190-1230). It was hanging in our living room in Berkeley
when I went off to the Cleveland Museum of Art for a symposium accompanying an exhibition of Yüan period art. I gave a paper
in which I argued that Yüan continuations of Sung traditions also had to be included in our histories of Yüan painting, showing,
for instance, what Yüan paintings in the Ma Yüan style look like. Coming home and looking [again at the painting] I realized
that according to my own paper, this must be a Yüan painting; and examining it closely I found the Sun Chün-tse signature.
So, suddenly it rose from a painting nobody noticed to a world-class masterpiece, all because of a discovered signature."
Landscape with Cranes and Other Birds
early 16 century A.D.
cm.96
Creator/Collector:
Lü Chi (Lu Ji)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 58 -1/2 x w 33 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Nicholas Cahill Collection
Description
t: T'ing-chen
h: Lo-yü
Lü Chi was a court painter during the Hung-chih period (1488-1506) and was known for his depictions of birds and flowers.
He was from Ning-p'o, a city east of Hangchou, where a flourishing commercial center for painting had existed for centuries.
In his paintings he followed T'ang and Sung masters and also imitated paintings by the later artist Pien Wen-chin (ca. 1356-1428)
as well as Pien's near contemporary Lin Liang (1455-1500), who was already at court when Lü Chi arrived around 1490.
"The seal below the artist's signature reads "Jih-chin ch'ing-kuang," a seal that appears on a number of works by artists
who served in the Ming imperial academy. It was Wai-kam Ho [a curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art] who first [to my knowledge]
figured out what it means: 'Daily approaching [being close to] the Pure and Radiant,' used by artists who had the privilege
of working in the presence of the emperor. The Chinese emperors often enjoyed having artists as their companions [they were
given quasi-military titles as if in the Imperial Guard] and watching them paint.The circular forms at the base of the overhanging
cliff are visually confusing - some [students] in my seminar argued that the fading away above them represents a recession
into a hollow of space. But if one knows earlier representations of the same motif [especially Sung], it's clear that it's
an overhanging cliff, the upper part obscured in mist, the lower part eroded and hollowed by water striking against it. By
the constant copying and imitating of the earlier, more naturalistic and readable form, derived from observation of natural
forms and phenomena, the motif has become visually ambiguous, as commonly happened within Chinese painting traditions."
The Pleasures of Fishermen
15 - early 16 century A.D.
CM.84
Creator/Collector:
Wu Wei
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 10 -3/4 x w 87 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Description
t: Shih-ying
h: Lu-fu
Later: t: Tz'u-weng
h: Hsiao-hsien
Wu Wei was born in Wu-ch'ang in Hupei province and received the early education necessary to follow his father into civil
service. However, his father died when he was quite young so Wu turned to painting, first in Nanking and then in Peking under
imperial patronage. He was a favorite of the emperors Hsien-tsung and Hsiao-tsung.
Wu is best known as an extremely eccentric painter, mainly of figures, who led a dissipated life of drinking and carousing
yet retained support and patronage at the highest levels. His escapades are duly recorded - including reporting to the emperor
in a state of total inebriation.
"This is . . . [a] horizontal scroll by Wu Wei, a Ming dynasty artist, active in the late fifteenth, early sixteenth centuries.
It represents fishermen on the river, leading a sort of ideal life. Wu Wei painted in a kind of rough style, which is perfect
for this subject - relaxed and easy. He used a brush that was either worn down or trimmed off so it would be kind of blunt
instead of fine, elegant brushwork. Now, [something] bothered me when I first saw this painting. I could see there were lots
of great things happening in it, a passage here where the fishermen have their nets drawn up and somebody is in a house looking
out at the fishermen and so on. [What] I realized eventually, or what was pointed out to me, is that it is actually two sections
of a scroll that had been pieced together, and when they had put them together they had to make certain adjustments to paint
in a bush here and to finish the riverbank [there]. [In] one part of the scroll there is a willow tree and you can see the
branches coming in, but the tree is now lost, so it is a willow tree without any trunk. Then you go on to the major part of
the scroll, which is where the fishermen are all living this happy bucolic life with their children, drinking wine, not very
actively fishing - it is a very highly idealized version of the life of the fisherman [who] had the same kind of position
in Chinese art as shepherds and shepherdesses did in the pastoral mythology of France or Europe."
In discussing how he included in his teaching the importance of the physical characteristics of a work of art, Cahill remarked,
"I used [the Wu Wei] to point out the necessity for looking hard at the painting and seeing what's been done to it. I've tried
to convey that involvement with the painting apart from being an academic. It's too easy to go from dealing with photographs
and slides to putting the same things on the screen as if this is all disembodied. Collecting makes you think about art as
solid things. Collecting also sharpens your eye for quality. [The same is true for] students; seeing the [object] and developing
a passion for it, or dislike, is very different from simply having a string of slides presented to you in a lecture."
Buildings on Immortal Mountains
1555
cm.77
Creator/Collector:
Wen Chia (Wen Jia)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 40 -1/2 x w 11 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Sarah Cahill Collection
Description
t: Hsiu-ch'eng
h: Wen-shui
Wen Chia was the second son of Wen Cheng-ming and painted in the style of his father. He was influenced by Ni Tsan and Wang
Meng, two of the "Four Great Masters" of the Yüan period.
Waterfall in Winter
1589
cm.64
Creator/Collector:
Sung Hsü (Song Xu)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 74 -1/4 x w 16 -3/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Sarah Cahill Collection
Description
t: Ch'u-yang and Shih-men
Sung Hsü was from Ch'ung-te, near Chia-hsing, Chechiang province but lived and worked much of his life around Sung-chiang.
He was much admired during his life, both for his ability as a painter and his spiritual understanding. He lived in a Taoist
temple and had studied Ch'an Buddhism, although he never actually became a monk. His paintings from the 1580s, like this
tall, attenuated landscape, are independent and individualistic, although it is possible to see the influence of Shen Chou
in the development of the brushwork in the mountain forms. The dramatic appeal of this painting is in the compressed composition.
His influence extended into the next generation of painters as the teacher of Chao Tso and Sung Mou-chin.
Landscape with Scholar and Servant
19 century A.D.
cc.104
Creator/Collector:
Jen I (Po-nien; Ren Yi)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 69 -7/8 x w 18 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
"This is a painting that is tumultuous and powerful on one level and that also has subtleties. There is a figure of a man
walking up the mountain path with a servant over in the middle right, sort of hidden away, and then trees that skewer the
whole landscape, so to speak, holding it all together. Jen I uses just little areas of color to tie things together. Green
is repeated up above so you can see where the path goes, how you climb up it. It looks like it has been done very casually,
spontaneously, and probably was, and at the same time it's very solidly put together by this great master."
Spring Thunderstorm
1715
1967.13
Creator/Collector:
Wang Yun
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 77 -3/8 x w 41 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Elizabeth Hay Bechtel, University of California, Berkeley, class of 1925
Landscape with Travelers
18 century A.D.
1980.42.26
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on silk
China
h 15 -7/8 x w 12 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Travelers in a Landscape
n.d.
1980.42.32
Creator/Collector:
Yeh, Yü
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and colors on silk
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Landscape with Trees, painted for Wang Shih-Chen (1634-1711)
17 century A.D.
CC.115
Creator/Collector:
Kung Hsien (Gong Xian)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on satin
China
h 61 -1/4 x w 19 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Nicholas Cahill Collection
Description
t: Ch'i-hsien
h: Pan-ch'ien, Pan-mu, Ch'ai-chang-jen, Yeh-i
Born in K'un-shan, Chiangsu Province, Kung Hsien eventually became the leading I-min ("leftover subject") painter in Nanking.
He died in poverty, never caring to promote himself or his paintings, and yet is considered to be the most famous of the Individualist
group of "Eight Masters from Nanking." He is admired for closely following the Sung masters, yet creating exciting new pictorial
expressions through innovative brushwork. His works are hauntingly beautiful renditions of a shadowy world.
The brilliant and influential connoisseur and collector Chou Liang-kung (1612-1672) wrote in his famous treatise on paintings
of this period, the Tu Hua Lu, "Kung Hsien was of an eccentric nature and found it difficult to associate with other people.
As a painter he swept away the common mannerism (trodden path) and produced very deep and original works. He said of himself,
"there has been nobody before me and there will be nobody after me." (Translation from Siren)
"In an article I wrote on Kung Hsien I trace his style using various methods [all that was available to me then] showing how
he begins with a linear manner adopted from Anhui and other masters of that time, then, affected by foreign pictures, adds
light-and-shadow stippling or shading, so as to render volumetric masses. This painting must be from [his early period] around
1666-1667.Then [he goes into] his great middle period and a late period in which he produces more, and more quickly, dropping
the careful stippling for the most part and working in fast-running line and dotting. The Kung Hsien handscroll [also in this
exhibition], which has only a simple signature must be late [in his work]. The Willow Dwelling [hanging immediately to the
left of this scroll] with calligraphy is probably also fairly late. All the way through he avoids the proper brushwork of
the Orthodox masters and uses brush techniques that get him condemned for "bad brushwork". . . And his high reputation now
is a modern thing, same as Shih-t'ao and others."
The Willow Dwelling
17 century A.D.
CC.116
Creator/Collector:
Kung Hsien (Gong Xian)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 47 -1/2 x w 23 -1/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Sarah Cahill Collection
Landscape
n.d.
CC.119
Creator/Collector:
Kuo Jen-lin
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on satin
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Landscape
1664
CC.147
Creator/Collector:
Tai Pen-hsiao (Dai Benxiao)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 48 x w 11 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Sarah Cahill Collection
Description
t: Wen-chin
h: Ching-an
Inscription by the artist: "Deep green gives rise to shadows, trees coalesce as curtains,/ Agitated clouds float whitely,
water gives birth to waves./ Thus I know the world's mundane affairs/ Will not reach this short bamboo fence in the mountains./
A solitary pine takes hold of the pond, the halcyon shadow is long./ On the whole road, mountain flowers send [their fragrance]
far./ There is also a clear spring contributing to listening quietly./ It is as if I were at Wangchun village. The first day
of the eighth month of jiachen [1664]. The old woodcutter of Ying'a Mountain, Benxiao (Pen-hsiao)." Translation by Haruki
Yoshida
Tai Pen-hsiao was from Anhui province, the son of a Ming loyalist who moved his family several times to avoid the chaos of
the late Ming period. This undoubtedly affected Tai's own choice to remain outside the court and to seek reclusion in the
mountains of Anhui. His painting style is extremely linear; in this he resembles another Anhui artist, Hung-jen. Tai also
followed the Yüan masters, painting the same kind of spare landscapes as Ni Tsan.
River Landscape with Fisherman in Boat
1662
CC.169
Creator/Collector:
Wang Hui; Yun Shou-p'ing (Yun Shouping)
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll: ink on paper
China
h 7 -7/8 x w 40 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
t: Shih-ku
h: Keng-yen san-jen, Ch'ing-hui chu-jen, Chien-men ch'iao-k'o, Niao-mu shan-jen
Wang Hui was from a family of professional painters from Ch'ang-shu, Chiangsu province. He was the third of the "Four Wangs"
(Wang Shih-min, Wang Chien, Wang Hui, and Wang Yüan-chi) and one of the "Six Great Masters of the Ch'ing" (with the Four Wangs,
Yün Shou-p'ing, and Wu Li). Often referred to as members of the Orthodox Tradition, these artists followed the great critic
and painter Tung Ch'i-ch'ang in his reliance on the great past masters. They are typically placed in contrast to painters
who were more independent and thus known as the Individualists.
Wang Hui's talent was recognized early and he was brought into an important circle of painters, connoisseurs, and collectors
by Wang Chien and Wang Shih-min. Through these associations he was able to see many fine painting collections and in some
instances was able to copy masterpieces, one of the major tools for learning the works of the masters. He became one of the
most prolific of the early Ch'ing painters.
Known as the greatest flower painter of his time, Yun Shou-p'ing was from Wu-chin, Chiangsu province. He was a contemporary
of Wang Hui and Wang Yüan-chi, two of the greatest landscape painters of the time (the three are among the "Six Great Masters
of the Ch'ing). His family situation was similar to theirs in that he was the son of a Ming loyalist and so did not choose
to serve as an official under the Ch'ing dynasty. Instead he studied painting with his uncle and made his living as a painter.
Landscape with Scholar and Servant
18 century A.D.
2002.1.2
Creator/Collector:
Huang Shen
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 42 x w 54 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
"The size and shape suggests that [this scroll] might have been mounted as a screen. This may account for the fact that it's
rather beat up, as if exposed a lot, but still strong . . . Huang Shen often did big pictures, but they tended to be of large,
sometimes rather gross figures. This one is better than most, although also, no doubt, done rather quickly. . . he was prolific,
[and] adopted a style that would permit him to be."
Landscape with Figures
mid 18 century A.D.
CC.217
Creator/Collector:
Li Shih-cho (Li Shizhuo)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and colors on paper
China
h 31 x w 17 -3/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Landscape
1705
CC.242
Creator/Collector:
Wang Yüan-ch'i (Wang Yuanqi)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 25 x w 15 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Description
t: Mao-ching
h: Lu-t'ai, Hsi-lu hou-jen, Shih-shih tao-jen
From T'ai-ts'ang, Chiangsu
Wang Yüan-ch'i was the grandson of Wang Shih-min, and thus had the same interest in following the Orthodox tradition as espoused
by the critic and painter Tung Ch'i-ch'ang. The youngest of the "Four Wangs," his political situation was different from that
of the others in that distance from the Ming and acceptance of the Ch'ing permitted Wang Yüan-chi to accept a government position
after obtaining his chin-shih degree in 1670. He was appointed to the Hanlin Academy in 1700. He was also a Member of the
Board for compilation of the P'ei-wen chai shu-hua p'u (Encyclopedia of calligraphy and painting commissioned by the K'ang-hsi
emperor).
In his painting he followed the Yüan master Huang Kung-wang.
Landscape (in the manner of Lu Kuang (active ca. 1325-1359))
1658
CC.76
Creator/Collector:
Hung-jen (Hongren)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 34 x w 13 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Sarah Cahill Collection
Description
t: Chien-chiang
h: Mei-hua ku-na, Yün-yin
Hung-jen was born in Chiang T'ao in Hsieh-hsien, Anhui province. He reportedly lived in poverty, yet he managed to obtain
an education and an official degree, which would have allowed him to work in the civil service. However, with the fall of
the Ming in 1644, he, like many other painters, chose to remain loyal to the Ming and thus became an I-min or "leftover subject."
He became a Buddhist monk, took the name Hung-jen, and went to work in the deep mountains of Anhui. He reportedly seldom left
his home on Mt. Huang other than to visit friends in Hangchou, Yangchou, and Nanking.
Hung-jen is regarded as the leading artist in the Anhui school, a loosely defined group that used the distinctive landscape
of the Anhui area for creative inspiration. He was considered one of the "Four Masters of Anhui."
In this, one of his late masterpieces, he follows the Yüan dynasty painter Lu Kuang, who he mentions in the inscription. He
uses the same compositional types as Lu Kuang, in particular the building up of forms to create substance and depth. Hung-jen
is known to have been especially concerned with adhering to Yüan dynasty models and is credited with having brought the Yüan
master Ni Tsan's style back into favor.
"[This painting] isn't the more favored kind of Hung-jen with angular, geometric forms, but it is still genuine and fine,
from late in his life."
The Temple at Mt. Chih-P'ing
1516
CM.102
Creator/Collector:
Wen Cheng-ming (Wen Zhengming)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 30 -1/2 x w 16 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Description
Original name Pi and tzu was Cheng-ming
Later adopted Cheng-ming and took the tzu Cheng-chung and the hao Heng-shan chü-shih
Wen Cheng-ming was from a wealthy Suchou family and thus had ample access to an education and literary texts; as such he should
have followed a career in civil service. However, he failed in many attempts to pass the second level of examinations and
eventually was given an appointment instead. He did not last long in government service and eventually retired from public
life.
His failure in government is in stark contrast to his success as a painter. He studied painting with the great early Ming
master Shen Chou (1427-1509) and followed the Yüan masters, particularly in landscape painting, but also in bamboo and paintings
of old trees. His use of pale cool and warm colors, an attenuated landscape format, and the complexity of positive and negative
shapes are hallmarks of his work. He shaped the Wu school into a virtual dynasty with his son, nephew, and students leading
generations of artists with his example. He was much admired during his lifetime and enjoyed the patronage of Wang Shih-chen
and his brother Wang Shih-mou, government officials who were noted collectors and connoisseurs.
"The inscription is published in Wen Cheng-ming's literary works, but for some reason the painting was not accepted by everybody.
It doesn't look like what you think of when you think of Wen Cheng-ming. When it came up at auction during the seminar I had
slides of it and we worked through it trying to see whether it was or it wasn't [Wen Cheng-ming]. By that time, we had come
to some criteria for recognizing the hand of Wen Cheng-ming: how he puts a painting together, the different motifs, apart
from the style he was working in. [We found] the paintings looked superficially different, but fundamentally, structurally
the same. We came to the conclusion that it was indeed a real Wen Cheng-ming, and I proceeded to buy it after the auction
was over. It was an example in which we were able to get the painting because of making a decision in the seminar. I'm not
saying I wouldn't have bought it otherwise, but I felt a lot better about it."
The Wang-Ch'uan Villa (in the manner of Wang Wei (699-759))
17 century A.D.
2002.2.2
Creator/Collector:
Chang Chi-su (Zhang Jisu)
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll: ink on silk
China
h 12 -5/16 x w 153 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
Chang Chi-su worked outside of the mainstream of seventeenth-century painting and was less susceptible to the critical currents
of the Sung-chiang area. He was from P'u-chou, present-day Yung-chi in Shansi province. Chang's work carries the flavor of
the Nanking school painters like Wu Pin. In this handscroll we also see some signs of Western influences in his style.
"Chang Chi-su apparently at some point in his career had been able to see and study what he took to be the original of Wang
Wei's famous scroll of the Wang-Ch'uan Villa. Wang Wei was an eighth-century poet painter, later hailed as the forefather
of literati amateur/scholar painters. Wang Wei [in his famous scroll] had painted the surroundings of his villa, the Wang-ch'uan
River. Originally on the walls of his villa, the composition came down through the centuries in various ways. A version of
it surfaced in the late Ming and was taken by some people to be the original - it was engraved in stone and so forth. So Chang
Chi-su was able to see this and he did various versions of it. I think five of them exist, four plus this one."
Landscape with Waterfalls
1608
CM.43
Creator/Collector:
Gao Yang
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink, color on paper
China
h 79 -1/4 x w 17 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Mountain Landscape, with Two Figures
1609
CM.44
Creator/Collector:
Kao, Yang
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink, color on silk
China
h 70 x w 26 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Nicholas Cahill Collection
River Landscape with Villa
1470
CM.59
Creator/Collector:
Ni Hung-ao (-hao?)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Flowers and Butterfly
12 century A.D.
CY.14
Creator/Collector:
Unknown, old attribution to Hsü Hsi (Xu Xi) (d. before 975)
Physical Description:
Painting
Album leaf mounted as a hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 9 -1/2 x w 9 -3/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Nicholas Cahill Collection
Description
This painting is an exceptional example of the Southern Sung Academy style of bird-and-flower painting, which takes an almost
scientific approach to describing nature. The delicate turn of the leaf and the immediacy of the butterfly approaching crystallize
a moment in time.
Landscape with Houses on a Mountainside (Waterfall on Mt. K'uang-Lu)
17 century A.D.
2002.2.7
Creator/Collector:
Kung Hsien (Gong Xian)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 44 -1/4 x w 17 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Landscape
17 century A.D.
CC.227
Creator/Collector:
Kung Hsien (Gong Xian)
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll: ink on paper
China
h 11 x w 105 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Landscape
1681
CC.47
Creator/Collector:
Fa Jo-chen (FA Ruozhen)
Physical Description:
Painting
handscroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 12 -3/4 x w 538 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
t: Han-ju
h: Huang-shih
Fa Jo-chen was a native of Chiao-chou, Shantung province, but he lived at various times in Fuchien, Chechiang and in Anhui.
He is usually associated with the Anhui school, a loosely identified group that used Mt. Huang as their subject matter and
frequently followed the Yüan master Ni Tsan in depicting spartan landscapes devoid of people.
The long handscroll depicting a turbulent, slanting view of a mountainous area is similar to other works by the artist in
his later years. His brushwork of lightly flying strokes is unmistakable and unique. He folds the composition in and over
itself, time and again, in a slightly dizzying manner, creating a continuous, undulating landscape.
Mountains at Dawn
1945
CT.21
Creator/Collector:
Huang Pin-hung
Physical Description:
Painting
horizontal painting: ink and color on paper
China
h 18 -1/2 x w 72 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection
Landscape with Figures (in the manner of Kuo Hsi (ca. 1000 - ca.1090))
Late 13-mid 14 century A.D.
2002.2.4
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 29 -5/8 x w 15 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
The style associated with the Northern Sung painter and theoretician Kuo Hsi (eleventh century) can be seen clearly in this
monumental landscape painting. Landscape painting of the Northern Sung emphasized the enormity of nature and the smallness
of man. According to writings attributed to Kuo Hsi, the artist's state of mind played a significant role in his ability to
truly depict the essence of the natural world. His son Kuo Ssu wrote of his father's teachings that: "[The artist] must do
his work with his whole soul; if he does not work with his whole soul, the essential will not be clear. He must be severe
and respectful in his work, otherwise it will lack depth of thought. He must apply zeal and reverence to complete it, otherwise
the picture will not be properly finished." (Translation from Siren)
In the Northern Sung dynasty style, large symmetrical landscape forms are built up in layers and densely textured with a variety
of brush techniques. This Yüan version establishes a greater separation between the viewer and the scene, but closely follows
the Northern Sung methods of multipoint perspective and the tilting of the far peak, which distorts the central mountain.
Scenery of Nan-P'ing-Shan (South Screen Mountain)
1627
2001.4.5.a-b
Creator/Collector:
Lan Ying
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 11 -3/4 x w 93 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
t: T'ien shu
h: Hsi hu wai shi, Tieh-sou, Shih-t'ou-t'o
Lan Ying was born in Chechiang province and lived most of his life in Hangzhou. He is often regarded as the last great painter
of the Che school, (a school founded by Tai Chin [1388-1462]) and associated with a decorative and academic style).
Although Lan Ying began his career as a professional painter, a somewhat derogatory appellation in light of the higher status
of the scholar/gentry/amateur painter, his surviving works demonstrate why he is considered one of the greatest artists of
his period. His studies of early masters, coupled with his precise brushwork, drew him praise from the powerful Sung-chiang
art circles of the early Ch'ing period. He was a teacher of Chen Hung-shou and of Liu Tu, another late Ming artist.
Cloudy Hills
2000.55.6
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
handscroll: ink and color on silk
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Hsingyuan Tsao and James Cahill
Landscape
1631 - 1641
1980.42.13
Creator/Collector:
Ku Ning-yüan
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 12 x w 9 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Scholars Gazing at the Moon and Reflections of It in the Water
17 century A.D.
CM.24.a
Creator/Collector:
Ch'en Ch'üan (Chen Quan)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China, Late Ming or early Ch'ing
h 43 -5/8 x w 17 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Nicholas Cahill Collection
Description
Inscription by artist: Verse couplet. "I have depicted: 'All the moons in the water are held by a single moon; One single
moon can thus hold all the lakes and rivers' - an allusion to the Ch'an Buddhist poem: "The moon imprints itself on a thousand
rivers,/ and yet, in reality, is a single moon." Translation by Patricia Berger
"[In this painting] scholars here and there throughout the picture are all looking at reflections of the moon. There are scholars
on the bridge looking at one reflection of the moon and there are people in the foreground looking at another. Then there's
the real moon up in the sky. It's quite a wonderful conception . . . What the picture really is showing is a Ch'an or Zen
Buddhist idea [with] the inscription meaning something like, 'all phenomena and things go back to one cause and are infinitely
manifested on earth.' The idea is that everybody sees a different reflection of the moon, but they all go back to one real
moon. The picture was done for a Zen monk, it turns out."
This is the only known work by the unrecorded artist Ch'en Ch'üan, whose influences - notably the use of lush washes of ink
and vivid brushwork - appear to have come from Che school adherents in the Hangchou area.
Landscape with Pavilion at the Foot of a Waterfall
1963
CT.39
Creator/Collector:
Wang Chi-ch'uan
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on paper
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection
Plum Tree and Ducks by a Stream
early 13 century A.D.
2000.29
Creator/Collector:
Ma Yüan (Ma Yuan)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk
China
h 31 -1/2 x w 18 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchased made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
h: Ch'in-shan
Ma Yüan was from Ho-chung, Shansi province. He was the principal artistic exponent of a school of painting associated with
the Southern Sung dynasty court; he painted during the Shao-hsi era (1190-1194) and was still active in Emperor Li-tsung's
reign (1225-1264). He and Hsia Kuei lend their names to the most famous school of the Southern Sung period, the Ma-Hsia school.
This school, working from a basis established in the Northern Sung period, depicted a natural and somewhat romanticized landscape.
In this painting, like many of his typical compositions, a dense corner composition is incorporated with an open, misty middle
ground, with views to the distant hills. Hence the artist's sobriquet "one corner Ma."
The court and the Painting Academy that Ma served were centered in the beautiful town of Hangchou, home to the scenic West
Lake and long known as a place of culture, art, and poetry. Ma Yüan was firmly associated with the Academy, taking his place
as the fourth-generation painter in his family to serve the Emperor. There are many paintings attributed to this artist but
only a very few genuine examples of his work.
"[When I saw this painting] I immediately took it to be a genuine Ma Yüan, [with a] good signature [only trimmed at the bottom],
and told [the dealer] so, asking whether the price wasn't too low. He said, 'We'll sell you this cheap this time, and something
else expensive next time.' So I bought it. As it happened, I had just finished giving my course on early Chinese painting,
through Sung, and had shown students how genuine Ma Yüans can be distinguished from imitations and copies: the more fluid
drawing of the plum tree [stiff and angular in copies, typically]; the gradual fading and loss of detail in a three-step recession;
the way the space funnels back in an S-curve, and so forth."
Landscape
17 century A.D.
CC.57
Creator/Collector:
Fu Shan
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 67 x w 17 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Description
t: Ch'ing-chu
h: Chen-shan, Se-lu, Kung chih-t'a, Jen-chung, Liu-ch'ih, Sui-li
Fu Shan, a noted calligrapher as well as a painter and physician from Shansi, lived through the tumultuous period between
the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties. He fought the Ch'ing and became known as a Ming loyalist.
"Fu Shan is better known as a calligrapher, and his landscape paintings are relatively rare. This is one of his best. I don't
usually go for the facile equations of painting and calligraphy - they are profoundly different arts. But here, because of
the highly formalized character of the painting, one could make formal connections with his calligraphy."
Trees in a Valley
1549
CM.135
Creator/Collector:
Wen Cheng-ming (Wen Zhengming)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and colors on paper
China
h 38 x w 11 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Description
"This painting is one of the fine works of this subject from Wen's late period in which old trees took on a powerful symbolic
importance in his works. It was reproduced in [Osvald] Siren's Chinese Painting when it was owned by [an old collector] in
Ashiya [Japan]. Siren had visited the old [collector], as I did during my Fulbright year. After his death the collection
passed to his older son, who was passionately devoted to racing cars and cared nothing about Chinese paintings. In the 1980s
[the son] began releasing them to New York auctions, and this Wen Cheng-ming appeared in [a] catalog.
"This was too late a purchase to figure in my Wen Cheng-ming seminar, in which old trees, especially cypresses, were a major
theme - I organized a weekend trip to Point Lobos near Carmel to see the famous old cypresses there; we stayed overnight at
Chang Ta-ch'ien's [a contemporary Chinese painter] place at Pebble Beach [his daughter Sing was in the seminar]."
River Landscape with Blue
1982
CT.65
Creator/Collector:
Wang Chi-ch'uan
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 28 -5/8 x w 40 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection
Evening Landscape
17 century A.D.
1997.17
Creator/Collector:
Fan Ch'i (Fan Qi)
Physical Description:
Painting
Album leaf mounted as hanging scroll: ink on paper
China, Ming Dynasty
h 9 -5/8 x w 11 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
t: Hui-kung and Ch'ia-kung
Fan Ch'i was from Chiang-ning in Chiangsu province. He was known as one of the Eight Masters of Nanking, a circle of great
artists working in that city at the end of the Ming Dynasty. He was also well regarded as a poet. This album leaf, mounted
as a hanging scroll, displays a crisp and clear environment, meticulously painted in a style that has roots in the great traditions
of the Sung masters. His work also reflects knowledge of Western perspective, which was gaining favor among the artists in
Nanking. The connoisseur and collector Chou Liang-kung acted as a patron to Fan Ch'i.
River Landscape (or Landscape with Village)
1966
CT.42
Creator/Collector:
Wang Chi-ch'ien (Wang Jiqian; CC Wang)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
h 19 -1/8 x w 23 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Extended loan from the Ch'ing Yüan Chai Collection
Description
Wang Chi-ch'ien was born in Wu-hsien in Chiangsu province and emigrated to the United States in 1949, settling in New York
City. He has been a major force in contemporary art circles and has taken part in numerous exhibitions at museums and galleries.
He trained as an artist in China with the famous Suchou painter Gu Lin-shih (1865-1933) and later, in the 1930s, with the
painter and collector Wu Hu-fan (1894-1968). His training with these artists set the stage for him to be a traditional literati
artist in the late Ch'ing style. His paintings do use the principles of the past - disciplined brushwork, a reliance on past
masters, layering of composition - but in Wang's hands they transcend the ordinary and become innovations of modern art. His
use of strong, nontraditional colors is only one of the many contributions that Wang has made to the growth of contemporary
Chinese painting.
Along with being an exceptional painter Wang is a collector and connoisseur of Chinese painting. He is also the co-author
of a standard reference text on Chinese painters, has served as an advisor for numerous institutions, and is frequently called
upon by colleagues to authenticate works of art. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese paintings and has traveled extensively
to look at paintings. He and Professor James Cahill are lifelong friends and often exchange opinions and paintings.
"I had the good fortune in my early career, while I was working on my dissertation, to look at a lot of paintings in the company
of some really great teachers. I put it that way rather than simply learning from the teachers - they are talking to me; I
am standing there with them, looking at a painting and seeing what they say about it. I was in New York, at the Metropolitan
Museum on a fellowship, 1953 to 1954, before I moved to Japan. I got to know C. C. Wang and spent a lot of time with him,
looking at paintings. [He] represents that absolute, top level of Chinese connoisseurship.
"I have said this is the basis of Chinese connoisseurship - being able to recognize a good Orthodox school painting and being
able to imitate it in your own painting like Wang Chi-ch'ien can or Wu Hufan (1894-1968), who was Wang's teacher, or Xu Bangda
[a well-known Chinese connoisseur at the Palace Museum] in Beijing."
Landscape
1696
CC.167
Creator/Collector:
Wang Hui
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll: ink and colors on paper
China
h 14 -3/8 x w 233
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
A Scholar Instructing Girl Pupils in the Arts
17 century A.D.
1967.12
Creator/Collector:
Chen Hungshou
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on silk
China
h 35 -3/4 x w 18 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Elizabeth Hay Bechtel, Class of 1925
Portrait of a Scholar
1639
1967.22
Creator/Collector:
Tseng Ch'ing
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 46 -3/4 x w 16 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Museum Purchase
The Zen Poet Han-Shan
13 century A.D.
1970.99
Creator/Collector:
Lo-Chuang (attributed to)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 23 -1/4 x w 11 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Museum purchase
Lohan (Arhats)
17 century A.D.
1976.17
Creator/Collector:
Chen Hongshou
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on silk
China
h 13 x w 222 1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Museum Purchase
Bodhisattva (Monju Bosatsu)
13 ? century A.D.
1976.19
Creator/Collector:
Chang Ssu-Kung (attrib.)
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on silk
China
h 46 x w 21 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. Eugene C. Gaenslen, Jr.
Figures Looking at Painting
18 century A.D.
1980.42.17
Creator/Collector:
Li Shih-cho
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on paper
China
h 27 -3/4 x w 15 -9/16 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Standing Figure
17 century A.D.
1980.42.3
Creator/Collector:
Ch'en, Hung-shou
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 29 -1/8 x w 13 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Seated Man with Cat
15 - 16 century A.D.
1980.42.4
Creator/Collector:
Chen, Tzu-ho
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on silk
China
h 45 -1/2 x w 29 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Vajrabhairava (Lamaist painting)
1512
1982.13
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 51 -1/2 x w 39 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of James and Dorothy Cahill
The Eighteen Arhats Crossing the Sea
16 century A.D.
1986.35
Creator/Collector:
Wang Wen
Physical Description:
Painting
handscroll: ink on paper
China
h 12 -3/4 x w 54 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of James and Dorothy Cahill
The Garden of the Secluded Villa
1706
1997.4.2
Creator/Collector:
Yüan Chiang (Yuan Jiang)
Physical Description:
Painting
Folding fan: ink and colors on paper
China
h 7 -1/8 x w 20 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from Lurie Fund
Description
t: Wen-t'ao
Yüan Chiang was from Chiang-tu in Chiangsu province, an area that had produced a number of painters. He was a court painter
in the Yung-cheng period (1723-1735). He was known for large, decorative paintings in the spirit of the Northern Sung masters,
but here in this small fan format he captures an intimate moment in time with a scholar seated at his lakeside pavilion. He
exploits the rounded fan shape by echoing it in rocks, bridges, and water.
Sakyamuni Buddha
18 century A.D.
2001.4.1
Creator/Collector:
Unknown; Yangchow School
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Three Figures, Illustration to Shih Ching, Tsai Chu Poem (in the manner of Ma Ho-chih)
n.d.
2001.4.6
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
Fan-shaped album leaf, mounted as hanging scroll: ink and colors on silk.
China
h 9 -3/4 x w 10 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Lady at the Window with Rosary
17 century A.D.
CC.247
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 46 x w 22 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection
Album of 12 Leaves: Figures in Landscape Settings
19 century A.D.
CC.78
Creator/Collector:
Jen Hsiung
Physical Description:
Painting
album: ink and color on paper
China
h 9 -3/4 x w 6 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Su Wu and Li Ling, with Attendants (Farewell of Su Wu and Li Ling)
17 century A.D.
CM.108
Creator/Collector:
Ch'en Hung-shou (Chen Hungshou)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 50 x w 19 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
t: Chang-hou
h: Lao-lien, Fu-ch'ih
After 1645 monastic name h: Lao-ch'ih, Hui-ch'ih
Ch'en Hung-shou was born in Chu-chi, Chechiang to a wealthy family and showed early promise as an artist. He is best known
as a figure painter and was often compared to Ts'ui Tzu-chung, hence the phrase "Nan Ch'en pei Ts'ui," (Ch'en in the South,
Ts'ui in the North). His paintings of historical characters always carry a feeling of the antique and often harbor a sense
of estrangement.
"This painting is from Ch'en's middle period, the 1630s, when his paintings often seem heavy-handed and unsubtle [he was keeping
up a copious commercial output to support himself, with studio assistants]. But this one, the more you look at it, turns out
to be full of subtleties and intricacies, and is really quite moving in the end."
The Gathering in the Apricot Garden
1638
cm.67
Creator/Collector:
Ts'ui Tzu-chung (Cui Zizhong)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 60 -3/4 x w 20 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Nicholas Cahill Collection
Description
t: Tao-mu
h: Pei-hai and Ch'ing-yin
Ts'ui Tzu-chung was from Lai-yang, Shantung province, and lived in Peking. He was a major force in figure painting, and was
known for not accepting payment for his paintings. He is often compared to Ch'en Hung-shou, considered Tsui's counterpart
in southern China. Tsui was a staunch Ming loyalist who starved to death when the dynasty was overthrown.
"When, in the 1970s, Judy Andrews (former student, now professor of art history at Ohio State University) did research toward
her dissertation on Ts'ui Tzu-chung, she discovered a passage in the writing of a later Ming scholar that recounted the story
behind this painting. Ts'ui was the guest of a patron in Beijing who, when he was leaving on an official trip, asked Ts'ui
to do a painting for him. Ts'ui procrastinated, until the man finally sent a servant back to induce Ts'ui to finish it and
bring the painting to him. Ts'ui finally did it, representing the two of them drinking a farewell tea together in the man's
Apricot Garden. This is the very painting the story is about. An interesting feature is the detailed depiction of the apparatus
for grinding tea, to make a powdered form that was drunk as in the Japanese tea ceremony."
Taoist Fairy
18 century A.D.
1980.42.24
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
woodblock
China
h 39 x w 12 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Album of Ten Leaves, Figures and Landscapes
1914
CT.29
Creator/Collector:
Wang Chen
Physical Description:
Painting
album leaves: ink and colors on paper
China
h 12 -3/4 x w 16 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
t: I-t'ing
h: Bailong shanjen, Mei-hua kuan-chu, Chüeh-ch'i
Wang Chen was closely tied to the school of Shanghai artists active in the early part of the twentieth century and studied
with Jen I, whose works can be seen elsewhere in the exhibition. Wang's paintings reflect this influence, particularly in
being highly calligraphic. He was a devout Buddhist, a revolutionary, and a businessman in a period of great turmoil in China.
"Wang Chen is an artist who has only recently begun to be taken seriously. He was overshadowed by Wu Ch'ang-shih, for whom
he sometimes ghost-painted, and also suffered from having painted too much, often repetitively. He did hundreds of pictures
for Japanese friends and visitors to Shanghai - he was a comprador for a Japanese company - and his works could be found in
Japan at the Yûshima Seidô [the Confucian temple in Tokyo] in some number and very cheap. But this album, a relatively early
work, is special. The pictures of beggars, in particular, are sensitive and moving, and in the tradition of the great Chou
Ch'en series. (The Huang Shen Beggars and Street Entertainers in this exhibition, fine as they are in their way, are comparatively
soft, and have less impact.) Wang's paintings of such subjects, not many, relate to his prominence as a philanthropist and
organizer of relief funds in Shanghai."
Chung-K'uei, The Demon Queller
18 century A.D.
1967.24
Creator/Collector:
Kao Ch'i-p'ei
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and light colors on paper
China
h 53 -3/4 x w 28 -5/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Museum Purchase
2 Album Leaves: Figures in Landscapes
19 century A.D.
CC.102
Creator/Collector:
Jen I (Po-nien)
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on paper
China
h 7 -7/8 x w 9 -5/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
t: Hsiao-lou
Jen I (also known as Jen Po-nien) was a native of Shao-hsing, Chechiang province, but worked in Suchou and finally settled
in Shanghai, where he became one of the major figures in the Haipai, the Shanghai School of Painting. He was an extremely
versatile artist who mastered portraiture and bird-and-flower painting as well as landscapes. He studied painting with the
famous Jen Hsün, a brother to Jen Hsiung (together the artists make up three of the famous "Four Jens"). He followed Ch'en
Hung-shou's example in figure painting.
"Jen I is an interesting case. He is the great figure master working in Shanghai in the 1880s. He died fairly young, [but]
was extremely prolific. He was one of those painters who could never do anything without making it his own, without being
original. There was a constant creative energy and refusal to just repeat old patterns. He was a brilliant artist, a little
facile sometimes, but many of his works are absolutely wonderful."
Arhats
late 16 - early 17 century A.D.
CM.120
Creator/Collector:
Wu Pin
Physical Description:
Painting
handscroll: ink and colors on paper
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Su Tung-P'o Returning to the Han-Lin Academy
15 - early 16 century A.D.
cm.68
Creator/Collector:
Chang Lu (Zhang Lu) (attributed)
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll: ink and colors on paper
China
h 12 -3/4 x w 248 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Sarah Cahill Collection
Description
t: T'ien-ch'ih
h: P'ing-shan ching-chu
Chang Lu was from K'ai-feng in Honan province and later moved to Nanking. Chang was a follower of Wu Wei, but had neither
the poor temperament nor the addictions to drink and gambling that plagued the older artist. He was a popular painter who,
like Wu, had not completed his education and so had no official status in society: thus, he frequently was subject to the
whims of high-ranking officials.
This painting depicts a well-known story about the Sung scholar, poet, and statesman Su Tung-p'o, who was banished from the
capital but who returns to the Hanlin Academy absolved and triumphant after a meeting with the empress dowager.
Album of 12 Leaves: Beggars and Street Entertainers
1730
2002.2.1
Creator/Collector:
Huang Shen
Physical Description:
Painting
album: ink and color on paper
h 13 -1/4 x w 17 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
t: Kung-mao
h: Ying-p'iao-tzu
Huang Shen was from Fuchien province, but after establishing himself as a professional painter with a following there, he
traveled widely and then established himself in the larger painting center of Yangchou, Chiangsu province. Eventually he moved
back to Fuchien and continued to sell his paintings. His works reflect his interests in poetry and calligraphy.
These lowly "street people" are an unusual subject matter for Chinese painting, as former Cahill student Ken Brown, now a
professor of Asian art history at California State University, Long Beach, comments:
"My very first graduate seminar paper was on the depiction of social outcasts in Chinese painting. Because published works
on the topic were rare, I was delighted to use several relevant paintings in the Ching Yüan Chai collection, including Huang
Shen's Beggars album. Because of direct access to works like these, the study of art became immediate and visceral - the examination
of tangible, living works rather than of dry, ghostly photos. Moreover, behind every painting was a story of its acquisition
in which the tastes and habits of noted collectors, dealers, and scholars became as familiar as pictorial subjects and styles
or artists' biographies. In this way, the social world of art history also came alive."
Bird-and-Flower Paintings
Plum Branch
1760
1975.36
Creator/Collector:
Chin Nung
Physical Description:
Painting
ink on paper
China
h 16 -1/4 x w 15 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Roger Spang
Peony and Apple Blossoms
1738
1980.42.12
Creator/Collector:
Kao Feng-han
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on silk
China
h 45 -1/4 x w 25 -5/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Garden Rock
1641
1980.42.15
Creator/Collector:
Lan Ying
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on paper, wood
China
h 77 -1/4 x w 36 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Birds and Flowers
1980.42.6
Creator/Collector:
Chiang P'u
Physical Description:
Painting
ink and color on silk
China
h 69 -9/16 x w 37 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Bamboo and Rock
1749
1980.42.7
Creator/Collector:
Chu Sheng
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 70 -34 x w 35 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Melon and Vine
16 century A.D.
1996.49.1
Creator/Collector:
Xu Wei (Hsu, Wei)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll, ink on paper
China, Ming Dynasty
h 25 x w 11 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of James Cahill
Untitled (album of birds, flowers, and landscapes)
17 century A.D.
1996.49.2.a-l
Creator/Collector:
Ch'en Hung-shou (Chen Hungshou)
Physical Description:
Painting
Album: ink and colors on silk
China, Ming Dynasty
h 8 -1/4 x w 6 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of James Cahill
Description
As a young boy Ch'en studied with the great professional landscapist Lan Ying and was a star pupil. His landscape paintings
often show a strong decorative quality that demonstrates his ability to go beyond his teachers' example. Ch'en attempted the
civil service examinations three times; after his third failure he turned his attention permanently to painting and began
designing woodblocks. He also gained a reputation as a drinker and lover of women and other amusements.
"This [work by Ch'en Hung-shou] is a small, almost pocket album. It's painted in a stiff style, almost like designs for lacquer,
or something decorative . . . Mostly Ch'en Hung-shou is [regarded as] a figure master, very refined. [However], before he
became a really refined painter he started out rather deliberately emphasizing his craft origin. So, that this could be a
genuine Ch'en Hung-shou was something I didn't originally believe, but came around to it as everyone did, and now everybody
recognizes it for the real thing."
Grapes
13 century A.D.
2000.28
Creator/Collector:
Wen Jih-kuan (Wen Riguan)
Physical Description:
Painting
Handscroll mounted as hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 12 -5/16 x w 32 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Trilling Bird on Branch
18 century A.D.
2001.4.2
Creator/Collector:
Hua, Yen
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 52 x w 21 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Lotus
1704
2001.4.4
Creator/Collector:
Shih T'ao
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Album of 12 Leaves, Blossoming Plum
1748
CC.120
Creator/Collector:
Li Fang-ying
Physical Description:
Painting
Album: ink on paper
China
h 8 -7/8 x w 10 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Brush Fire with Animals Fleeing
18 century A.D.
cc.64
Creator/Collector:
Hua Yen (Hua Yan)
Physical Description:
Painting
Album leaf mounted as hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 21 x w 20 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Nicholas Cahill Collection
Description
t: Ch'iu-yüeh
h: Hsin-lo shan-jen
Hua Yen was born in Lin-t'ing, Fuchien province, but moved to Hangchou and then Yangchou, both major painting centers in the
early eighteenth century. He was very active with a group of artists who had been involved in various ways with the late seventeenth-century
painter Tao-chi. By the 1730s, Hua Yen's compositions follow those of that master of the spontaneous and unexpected.
"Hua Yen is a major, very versatile artist of the first half of the eighteenth-century . . . and very famous now. Quite a
lot of his work is around, but this is a very special subject. [When I bought this work] it looked kind of coarse, with a
five-character title, plus the seal of Hua Yen, but no signature. And it was not published. [However] the animals are very
sensitively painted. You can see through the smoke and fire and see the line of red fire going across. [There is] wonderful
use of ink, a highly unconventional painting. In this period, in Yangchou, and in eighteenth-century painting generally, something
gives way in the restrictions on subject matter and suddenly they could do things with sort of ominous or painful overtones.
This has become a favorite painting, partly because it breaks the rules. Over the years, as I have said to many people now,
I have come to value more the odd corners, the dissidents, the unorthodox, I mean people who really break the rules. There
are lots of painters in Yangchou who are eccentric, but [I mean] painters who really break new ground, like this one."
Untitled (branch of flowering cherry or plum, calligraphy below)
18 century A.D.
1980.42.19
Creator/Collector:
Shen, Ch'üan (attributed to)
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 37 -1/2 x w 16 -1/2 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of the Bo-an Collection
Bamboo
CC.123
Creator/Collector:
Li Shan
Physical Description:
Painting
album leaf: ink on silk
China
h 11 x w 16 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Album of Ten Leaves of Flower and Landscapes
1676
CC.184
Creator/Collector:
Yun Shou-p'ing
Physical Description:
Painting
album: ink and color on paper
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Description
t: Cheng-shu
h: Nan-t'ien, Yün-shi wai-shih, Pai-yün wai-shih, Tung-yüan ts'ao-i
In this album Yün uses a technique known as the "boneless" (mogu) to depict the flowers, leaves, and stalks. This method
uses shading and ink and color gradations to describe the plant without outline. It was a technique that can trace its roots
to the eleventh-century painter Hsü Ch'ung-ssu. Other artists of the early Ming were also using this technique, but in Yün's
hands it creates an extremely airy and light appearance, almost as if the plants were floating in space.
Bamboo Growing by a Rock
15 century A.D.
CM.57
Creator/Collector:
Lu Tuan-chun
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private collection
Fish and Water Plants (in the tradition of Miu Fu (15th c.))
15 century A.D.
2002.1.5
Creator/Collector:
Unknown
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 27 x w 14 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Purchase made possible through a gift from an anonymous donor
Description
This large decorative hanging scroll of a fish amidst water plants is painted in the style of court painting from the fifteenth-century.
Miu Fu was a fifteenth century artist who specialized in large-scale paintings of fish and other decorative subject matter.
During the early Ming this type of painting would have been created to hang in a palace or court setting. Often the leaping
fish is seen as symbolic of success in passing examinations and thus is used as a congratulatory presentation piece.
Branch of Blossoming Plum
1892
CT.45
Creator/Collector:
Wu Chang-shih (Wu Changshou)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
h 29 -1/2 x w 10 -3/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
Original name: Chün-ch'ing
t: Lao fo, Fu lu
h: P'o-ho-lao-fou, Ts'ang-shih
Wu Chang-shih was from an area in the northwestern part of Chechiang and lived most of his life in Suchou and Shanghai. His
circumstances were rather humble yet he was able to pass the first level exams and spent time studying the classics. He was
a talented seal carver and calligrapher as well as painter. He was well connected and had a large circle of artist friends
in the Shanghai area, knowing the Jens and many other Shanghai school painters. He was a founding member of the Yuyuan Shuhua
Shanhui (The Yu Garden Charitable Association of Calligraphers and Painters) and a member of a number of other calligraphy
and painting associations.
His work found its way to Japan and he became a very popular artist there.
Orchids and Rock
1913
CT.48
Creator/Collector:
Wu Chang-shih (Wu Changshou)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 52 -3/4 x w 19 -3/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
P'i -P'a and Rock
1915
CT.49
Creator/Collector:
Wu Chun-ch'ing
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink and colors on paper
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection
Branch of Blossoming Plum
1920
CT.50
Creator/Collector:
Wu Junching
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on paper
China
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection
Bird on Stalk of Bamboo
1880
CC.87
Creator/Collector:
Jen I (Ren Yi)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 58 -1/4 x w 15 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Wisteria
late 19 century A.D.
CT.55
Creator/Collector:
Wu Chang-shih (Wu Changshou)
Physical Description:
Painting
Album leaf: ink and colors on paper
China
h 13 -1/4 x w 18 -1/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Album of 8 Leaves: Fish and Fruit
1856
CT.20
Creator/Collector:
Hsü-Ku
Physical Description:
Painting
album: ink and color on paper
China
h 10 -3/4 x w 13 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Private Collection
Description
Original name: Zhu Huai-jen
t: Hsu-pai
h: Tsu-yang shan-min
Hsü Ku was from She-hsien in Anhui province but worked in Yangchou, Suchou and Shanghai. He served for a time in the military
as his family background dictated. His military service did not last long and he turned to Buddhism, becoming a monk.
He is best known as a painter of bird and flowers but was also accomplished in architectural drawings and portraits. He was
closely involved with the prominent Shanghai School artists and is known to have collaborated with Jen I.
Pheasants on a Rock
19 century A.D.
CC.79
Creator/Collector:
Jen Hsiung (Ren Xiong)
Physical Description:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on paper
China
h 65 -1/2 x w 18 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
t: Wei-ch'ang
Jen Hsiung was the leader of the dominant Shanghai School that arose in the mid-nineteenth-century. From Hsiao-shan, Chechiang
he worked for a time in Hangchou living with the collector Chou Hsuen (1820-1875) and copying works from his collection.
He later moved to Shanghai where he became established as the first of the four famous Jens. He was an extremely versatile
artist, capable of painting figures, landscapes, and bird and flowers with equal skill and creativity.
"This painting is remarkable for the way Jen Hsiung runs together the ink and colors on the birds' plumage without letting
them really mix in a messy way. Somehow the pigments are made opaque, mixed with some filler, and kept from flowing together
freely. I've asked artists how this is done and gotten various answers; nobody is quite sure. It begins in eighteenth-century
Yangchou painting, especially in Li Shan's works, and is taken up by later flower painters, notably Chao Chih-ch'ien. It allows
the artist to place areas of heavy color together, contiguously, as couldn't be done before. The effect may be in part inspired
by European paintings they saw. Anyway, Jen Hsiung, always an innovator, uses it here for a heavy, somber effect which Tsuruta
[Takeyoshi Tsuruta, a noted Japanese authority on nineteenth-century Chinese painting], writing about this and similar paintings,
saw as an expression of the dark, somber mood of the mid nineteenth century."
Apples
1960
CT.37
Creator/Collector:
Wang Chi-ch'ien (Wang Jiqian; CC Wang)
Physical Description:
Painting
Ink and color on paper
China
h 36 -7/8 x w 17 -7/8 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
On extended loan from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection
Description
"This painting hung for some time in the back room of the Mi Chou Gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City - I would visit
on every trip to New York [frequently, during my years in Washington at the Freer Gallery of Art]. Anyway, every time I would
go there I would admire this [painting], and in between I would worry over whether someone else would buy it. Finally I conquered
my reluctance - understand that one could buy a pretty good old painting in Japan for around the same price - and bought it
myself. I've never regretted it; it's hung on several walls of places I've lived. It exemplifies what Wang himself says about
strong but supple brushwork in praising Bada Shanren and others, and is also very original compositionally. Was his style
affected in this period by his study [at Cooper Union in New York City] of Western-style painting, was it Cézanne, or someone
else? If you could combine Bada Shanren and Cézanne, this is what you would get."
Calligraphy
late 16 - early 17 century A.D.
2000.55.4
Creator/Collector:
Chang Jui-t'u
Physical Description:
Painting
hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 71 -7/8 x w 19 -1/4 inches
Contributing Institution: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Custodial History
Gift of Hsingyuan Tsao and James Cahill