Sleeping Gibbon

Object Details

• Artist

  Zhang Daqian 張大千 (China, 1899-1983)

  Signed as Liang Kai 梁楷 (late 12th-early 13th century)

• Calligrapher

  Superscription by Puru (China, 1896-1963)

• Label

  Sleeping Gibbon is an early forgery by Chang Dai-chien, one of China's most influential modern painters. He created Sleeping Gibbon around 1934, when he was relentlessly studying and imitating past masters to hone his own painting skill. Chang liked to test his success by occasionally trying to pass off his forgeries, and he also enjoyed the profits he could reap. He learned to fake physical damage to his paintings to complete their impression of antiquity; note the battered look of this hanging scroll--including the "aged" color of the paper, induced by the artist.

  Here, with a minimum of strokes, Chang Dai-chien brushed an image in a style associated with the Southern Song dynasty artist Liang Kai, whose signature he faked, as well. In fact, the brushwork is too loose for a genuine Liang Kai, but Chang knew how rare Liang's works were in China and banked on being able to get away with his sophisticated trickery. He cajoled his friend Puru to write a colophon (sometimes Puru authenticated Chang's forgeries knowingly, and sometimes unwittingly). Whichever the case here, Puru stated that Sleeping Gibbon was a masterpiece in Chang's personal collection of antiquities. When the scroll reached the market, buyers assumed it was an ancient gem Chang had parted with reluctantly. Chang Dai-chien made a second, nearly identical forgery of Sleeping Gibbon that entered the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 1956, before he admitted it was his work.

• Provenance

  To 1950

  Mathias Komor (died 1984), New York acquired from the artist, to 1950 [1]

  From 1950

  Mr. and Mrs. Myron S. Falk, Jr., New York purchased from Mathias Komor in 1950 [2]

  To 2002

  Patricia Falk, New York by descent from Mr. and Mrs. Myron S. Falk, Jr., to 2002

  From 2002

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, given by Patricia Falk in 2002

  Notes:

  [1] According to Provenance Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Gifts to the Collection: 1987-2012 (June 23 to December 17, 2012)

  Challenging the Past: The Paintings of Chang Dai-Chien (November 21, 1991 to April 5, 1992)

  The Arts of China (November 18, 1990 to September 7, 2014)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mathias Komor (1909-1984)

  Myron S. Falk, Jr. (1906-1992)

  Pauline Baerwald Falk (1910-2000)

  Patricia Falk

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Patricia Falk, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Myron S. Falk, Jr

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1930s

• Name

  Falk, Myron S., Falk, Patricia, Falk, Pauline Baerwald, Komor, Mathias

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Animals, Sleeping, Chinese Art, Monkeys, Forgery, Modern period (1912 - present)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings