Small Birds, Bamboo and Rocks 竹石小鳥圖 (軸)

Object Details

• Artist

  Bada Shanren 八大山人 (朱耷) (1626-1705)

  Addition and two colophons by Zhang Daqian 張大千 (China, 1899-1983)

• Label

  In its current form, this painting is particularly unusual in that only two-thirds were actually painted by Bada Shanren. The remaining third (on the right) was added by the modern painter and collector Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), who believed the work to have been much larger originally than when he acquired it in the early 1950s. Both brushwork and ink tonality provide viewers with a vivid example of the differences between Bada Shanren's approach and that of his most important and prolific recent forger, Zhang Daqian. These differences can be further explored in the related paintings exhibited on the walls to left and right, one by each artist.

  Zhang attached two strips of paper to either side of Bada's original painting, inscribed his own colophon, and "restored" a corner of the rock and foreground on the right side by adding a few strokes. As he states in his 1952 inscription: "Modern enthusiasts [of painting] prize small hanging scrolls the most, with around three feet as the norm. This custom has spread throughout north and south alike, but is particularly prevalent in the Wuzhong [region of Jiangsu Province]. There, whenever a dealer of antiquities comes across a large-scale hanging scroll, he will chop it down in size hoping to better his price. The damage [such a practice has inflicted] on the heart's blood of earlier masters is more vicious and cruel than [the tortures of] an executioner. On acquiring this scroll recently in Hong Kong, I felt sorry for its broken state and got the idea of adding a few strokes to fix it up. While I could not make it shine like the masterpiece it once was, or immediately restore the painting to its former appearance, I privately compare [my added brushstrokes] to a blind man's cane: As consolation, they are better than nothing. "

  Translation by Stephen D. Allee

• Provenance

  To 1997

  Wang Fangyu (1913-1997) and Sum Wai (1918-1996), to 1997 [1]

  To 1998

  Shao F. Wang, New York and Short Hills, NJ, by descent, to 1998 [2]

  From 1998

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Shao F. Wang in 1998

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Note 1, Joseph Chang and Stephen D. Allee, May 7, 1998, and Joseph Chang and Stephen D. Allee, August 18, 1998, in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Enigmas: The Art of Bada Shanren (1626-1705) (June 20, 2015 to January 3, 2016)

  Masterpieces of Chinese Painting (IV) (June 12 to November 28, 2010)

  After the Madness: The Secular Life, Art, and Imitation of Bada Shanren (1626-1705) (February 16 to July 27, 2003)

  A Literati Life in the Twentieth Century: Wang Fangyu - Artist, Scholar, Connoisseur (February 11 to June 20, 1999)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Wang Fangyu (1913-1997)

  Sum Wai (1918-1996)

  Shao F. Wang

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Bequest from the collection of Wang Fangyu and Sum Wai, donated in their memory by Mr. Shao F. Wang

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1690s

• Name

  Wang, Fangyu, Wai, Sum, Wang, Shao F.

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Animals, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Shao F. Wang collection, Birds, Bamboo

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings