Twin Trees by the South Bank (An nan shuang shu tu)

Description

One of the Four Masters of the late Yuan, Ni Zan is widely known for his personal landscape style, characterized by dry calligraphic brushwork and minimal description. Subsequently, he became a model for literati painters, who admired his noble character and praised his seemingly simple paintings of great strength and forcefulness. At the upper right in this example of his early work, his poem reads:

I once tied my boat near the cottage at Fuli,

Where the green river and white gulls stirred my melancholy thoughts.

I shall remember the two trees on the south bank,

How the blue-green bamboo clings, after rain, like morning glories.

[trans. by Wen C. Fong, Images of the Mind (Princeton, 1984), p. 118]

予既為公遠茂才寫此并賦絕句

甫里宅邊曾繋舟，滄江白鳥思

悠悠。憶得岸南雙樹子，雨餘青

竹上牽牛。

倪瓚至正十三年二月晦日

In 1353 Ni Zan began twenty years of waterborne wandering. One of the wealthiest and most cultured men of his region, he was forced to flee from his lands during a period of Chinese rebel uprisings and the crumbling Yuan government. His poem of mooring his boat, visiting a friend, and leaving behind a painting as a remembrance, sets the pattern of this phase of his life.

Colophons

Wen Zhengming (1470–1559): 7 character quatrain in 3 columns of running script. Signed "Zhengming." Seals: "Wen Zhengming yin" sq. intaglio; "Zhengzhong" sq. relief.

Zhang Yuan (Zhang Daqian; 1899–1983): 107 character note in 6 columns of running script. Signed: "In the second lunar month of the xinmao year [1951], Zhang Yuan carefully inscribed this." Seal: "Daqian jingyan" tall rect. relief.

This is a genuine work from the brush of the lofty scholar Ni; I bought it in 1920 when I went to Sichuan to see my family. I purchased it from Lu Xuetang in Yuzhou [Chongqing]. At the time I was just beginning to collect paintings and calligraphies, and this cost me three thousand cash. I took it with me to Shanghai for my late teacher Zeng Xi to appreciate. He admiringly said, "My student is just at the threshold of adulthood and his connoisseurship is already this good, so my studio is augmented by his presence." (trans. in Shen C. Y. Fu, Challenging the Past, p. 39–40)

Collectors' Seals

Zhu Zhichi 朱之赤 (act. 16th century)
字守吾，号卧庵，伏符、卧庵道士、卧翁、卧庵道人，别署狂奴 - 6 seals:

"Di yi xi you" 第一希有 sq. relief (left, top)
"Woan suo cang" 卧庵所藏 sq. relief (left, 6th from bottom)
"Zi sun bao zhi" 子孫保之 sq. relief (left, 5th from bottom)
"Dongnan zhi mei" 東南之美 sq. relief (left, 4th from bottom)
"Zhu Woan shoucang yin" 朱卧庵收藏印 tall rect. relief (right, 3rd from bottom)
"Woan []" 卧庵[ ] sq. intaglio (right bottom)

Zhang Dai 張岱 (1597–ca. 1684) 又名维城，字宗子，石公，号陶庵、天孙，别号蝶庵居士，晚号六休居士 - 1 seal:

"Tao'an jing [][][]shuhua ji" 陶庵經[][][]書畫記 sq. relief (shitang, 2nd from left, 2nd from bottom)

Liang Qingbiao 梁清標 (1620–1691) - 3 seals

"Jiaolin jushi" 焦林居士 sq. intaglio (right border, ***) [placement on the border is suspicious]
"Cangyan" 蒼嚴 sq. relief (right border, upper)
?"[ ][ ] zhi bao" [ ][ ]之寳 sq. relief (right border, 3rd from bottom)

Bian Yongyu 卞永譽 (1645–1712) - 2 seals:

"Shigutang shuhua" 式古堂書畫 tall rect. (right, 5th from bottom)
"Bian Lingzhi jianding" 卞令之鋻定 sq. relief (right, 4th from botom)

Li Enqing 李恩慶 (1793–after 1867) 字号：季云、寄云河北遵化人。著有《爱吾庐书画记》[(formerly identified as Li Jiyun 李季雲 (20th century)] - 3 seals:

"Beiping Li shi Jiyun zhencang tushu" 北平李氏季雲珍藏圖書 sq. relief (right border, bottom)
"Jiyun" 季雲 sq. relief (left border, upper)
"Beiping Li shi suo cang" 北平李氏所藏 sq. intaglio (left border, bottom)

Zhang Shanzi 張善孖 (1882–1940) - 1 seal:

"Shanzi xinshang" 善孖心賞 sq. relief (shitang, 2nd from left, bottom)

Zhang Yuan 張爰 (1899–1983), 4 seals

"Zhang Yuan" 張爰 sq. intaglio (shitang, left, top)
"Nan bei dong xi zhi you xiang sui wu bie li" 南北東西只有相隨無別離 sq. relief (2nd from left, bottom)
"Daqian [ ]" 大千[ ] sq. relief (shitang, left, 2nd from top)
"Daqian [hao]ge" 大千[好]葛 tall rect. relief (shitang, left, 3rd from top)

Chen Rentao 陳仁濤 (1906–1968) - 3 seals: