A Scholar in his Mountain Studio

Object Details

• Artist

  Gao Cen (active 1640s-1679)

• Calligrapher

  Zhou Lianggong (1612-1672)

  Cao Erkan (1617-1679)

• Description

  (Fu Shen and Julia Murray, 1981) The painting, which depicts a man in a hut beside a waterfall, is not signed but bears a seal of the artist in the lower right. From its dimensions, the painting was apparently originally an album leaf.

  A colophon by the Nanking collector-connoisseur Chou Liang-kung (1612-1672), now mounted above the painting, probably once was the facing page of the album.

• Marks

  The painting bears a seal of the artist in the lower right.

  The colophon is accompanied by three seals of Chou Liang-kung.

  Two seals of Ts'ao Erh-k'an accompany a colophon dated ting-wei (1667) .

  A seal whose legend appears to be the single character Tui accompanies a poem in five-character meter written directly on the painting in the upper right by someone who signs himself Ming-yueh hsi-k'o.His identity is undetermined.

  A seal whose legend appears to be the single character Tui accompanies a poem in five-character meter written directly on the painting in the upper right by someone who signs himself Ming-yueh hsi-k'o.His identity is undetermined.

• Inscriptions

  A colophon by the Nanking collector-connoisseur Chou Liang-kung (1612-1672), now mounted above the painting, probably once was the facing page of the album. Chou gives a biography of Kao Ts'en in his colophon, the same as that published in his Tu-hua lu (entry No. 48). The colophon is dated the year hsin-mao (1651), and is accompanied by three seals of Chou Liang-kung.

  Mounted between the painting and Chou Liang-kung's colophon is another colophon, by Ts'ao Erh-k'an (1617-1679), a native of Chia-hsing, Chekiang. This colophon consists of a poem, written in seven-character meter, dedicated to Chou Liang-kung. The colophon is dated ting-wei (1667).

  An inscription written directly on the painting in the upper right is a poem in five-character meter by someone who signs himself Ming-yueh hsi-k'o and uses a seal whose legend appears to be the single character Tui. His identity is undetermined.

• Label

  A wealthy native of Nanjing, Zhou Lianggong was one of the most prominent collectors and patrons of the arts during the mid-seventeenth century. He held office under the Ming dynasty in its closing days and continued to serve in government after the fall of Nanjing to Manchu conquerors in 1645. As a collector and patron, Zhou was especially interested in contemporary artists who lived and worked in his hometown, such as the painter of this idyllic landscape, Gao Cen. Zhou composed and later published a series of valuable biographical sketches of these artists, one of which is mounted here above the album leaf by Gao. Writing in 1651, he described his friend as follows:

  "Gao Cen has a beard and whiskers like a halberd's blade and looks like someone who should be wearing embroidered robes and sitting on a noble steed, but actually he is quite infatuated with Buddhism. . . . In his youth, Gao studied painting with his fellow townsman, Zhu Hanzhi [Zhu Ruiwu, ca. 1594-ca. 1671], but later on he followed his own ideas. The paintings in this album were all executed at a mountain temple in the southern suburbs [of Nanjing] among the shadows of pines and the murmur of brooks. Excluding all the hustle and bustle [of the workaday world], they lead one calmly into place of tranquillity. . . . "

• Provenance

  To 1960

  Chen Rentao (1906-1968), Hong Kong, and Frank Caro, C. T. Loo & Co., New York, to 1960 [1]

  From 1960 to 1979

  Department of Treasury, U. S. Customs Service [2]

  From 1979

  Freer Gallery of Art, from October 23, 1979 [3]

  [1] This object is one of a group of 88 objects (F80.104-F80.180, FSC-S-22-25 and FSC-O-11a-h) seized in 1960 by the U.S. Customs Service, Department of the Treasury, from the dealer and collector Chen Rentao, Hong Kong and Frank Caro of C. T. Loo & Co., New York.

  The objects were deemed to have been introduced into the commerce of the United States in violation of 19 U.S.C. 1592 (Trade with Communist China).

  [2] See note 1. The object’s ownership title is based on the settlement agreement, dated November 1971, between the United States, Chen Tung Siang Wen, the executrix for Chen Rentao Estate, and Frank Caro, copy in object file.

  See U.S. Customs Service Memorandum, April 23, 1979 and a letter from Thadeus Rojek, Chief Counsel, Department of the Treasury, U.S. Custom Service, to Marie C. Malaro, Assistant General Counsel, Smithsonian Institution, dated November 29, 1979, copy in object file. The objects remained in the custody of the U.S. Customs Service office in New York until 1979.

  [3] The object was transferred to the Freer Gallery of Art on October 23, 1979.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Guests of the Hills: Travelers in Chinese Landscape Painting (August 23, 2008 to March 15, 2009)

  Chinese Arts of the Brush, 17th - 18th Century (January 21 to July 22, 2001)

  Chinese Paintings: Recent Accessions (March 2 to August 2, 1984)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Chen Rentao 陳仁濤 (1906-1968)

  Frank Caro (1904-1980)

  U.S. Customs Service

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Transfer from the United States Customs Service, Department of the Treasury

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1630s, 1660s

• Name

  U.S. Customs Service, Caro, Frank, Chen, Rentao

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Landscapes, Art, Scholar, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings