A Donkey for Mr. Zhu

Object Details

• Artist

  Qiu Ying 仇英 (ca. 1494-1552)

• Calligrapher

  Xu Zhenqing (1479-1511)

• Signatures

  Signatures: Qin Ying shi fu, one essayist, 10 pledges.

• Marks

  Artists Seals: Shi fu (relief, square).

  Collectors Seals: 14 collectors and appreciators script.

  Collectors Seals: 14 collectors and appreciators script.

• Inscriptions

  Inscriptions: After a prose essay in twenty one lines, in regular script.

• Provenance

  From at least 1824

  Wu Xiu (1764-1827), China [1]

  From at least 1891

  Lu Xinyuan (1834-1894), China [2]

  From at least 1902

  Duanfang (1861-1911), China [3]

  From at least 1928

  Guan Mianjun (1871-1933), China [4]

  From at least 1967

  Frank Caro (1904-1980), New York, New York [5]

  From possibly ca. 1967 to 1987

  Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987), New York, New York [6]

  From 1987

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [7]

  Notes:

  [1] According to Wu Xiu 吳修, Qingxiaguan lunhua jueju 青霞館論畫絕句 (One Hundred Quatrains Praising Painting from the Lodge of Green Vapors), (1824), vol. 16, pp. 216–17.

  [2] According to Lu Xinyuan 陸心源, Rangliguan guoyan lu 穰梨館過眼錄 (Appreciative Notes on Painting and Calligraphy), (Wuxing: Yigutang 儀顧堂, 1891), 19:3a-5b, along with the first three colophons.

  [3] According to Duanfang 端方, Renyin xiaoxia lu 壬寅消夏錄, (1902), 2 vols. In Xuxiu Siku quanshu 續修四庫全書. 1800 vols. (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995–2002), vol. 1089: vol. 1, pp. 552–54.

  [4] According to Guan, Mianjun, San qiu ge shu hua lu (A Catalogue of Calligraphy and Painting from the Hall of Three Autumns), (1928), pp. 46, plate 1.

  [5] The handscroll was on loan to the Princeton University Art Museum from January 11, 1967. According to information from the Princeton University Art Museum registrars, initially, the loan agreement listed Frank Caro as the lender. Subsequently, at an unknown date, Frank Caro’s name was crossed off and instead Arthur M. Sackler’s name was written. Given this information, it seems likely that as of at least 1967, Frank Caro was the owner of the painting, when the original loan agreement was signed. See correspondences from the Princeton University Art Museum dated June 25 and June 15, 2018, copies in object file, Collections Management Office. See also Marilyn Fu and Shen Fu, Studies in Connoisseurship: Chinese Paintings from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection in New York, Princeton and Washington DC, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 86-93.

  [6] The object was part of the traveling exhibition, Rarities of Chinese Paintings from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. It was on view at the Princeton University Art Museum, December 8, 1973 – February 3, 1974; Cleveland Museum of Art, July 10 – September 2, 1974; Los Angeles Museum of Art, September 15 – November 3, 1974; Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 13 – September 7, 1976, among possibly other venues. Arthur M. Sackler acquired a number of objects for his collection from Frank Caro’s gallery in New York in the 1960s and 1970s; it is, therefore, possible that he acquired the painting directly from Frank Caro.

  [7] Pursuant to the agreement between Dr. Arthur M. Sackler and the Smithsonian Institution, dated July 28, 1982, legal title of the donated objects was transferred to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on September 11, 1987.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  Where the Truth Lies: The Art of Qiu Ying (February 9, 2020 - March 13, 2020)

  The Ferryman of Ink World: Dong Qichang's Calligraphy and Painting Art (December 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019)

  Painting with Words: Gentlemen Artists of the Ming Dynasty (April 16 to July 24, 2016)

  Power and Virtue: The Horse in Chinese Art (September 11 to December 13, 1997)

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

  Pavilions and Immortal Mountains: Chinese Decorative Art and Paintings (September 28, 1987 to February 28, 1988)

  Rarities of Chinese Painting in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections (December 8, 1973 to June 29, 1986)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Wu Xiu (1764-1827)

  Lu Xinyuan (1834-1894)

  Duanfang 端方 (1861-1911)

  Guan Mianjun (1871-1933)

  Frank Caro (1904-1980)

  Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987)

• Origin

  Jiangsu province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1500s, 1550s

• Name

  Sackler, Arthur M., Wu, Xiu, Caro, Frank, Guan, Mianjun, Lu, Xinyuan, Duanfang

• Place

  Jiangsu province, China

• Topic

  Art, Scholar, Donkey, Chinese Art, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings