Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A catalogue of the Ashmolean collection of Chinese paintings by Shelagh Vainker (published Oxford, 2000).

Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

Publications online: 222 objects

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Feiyun Peak

  • Literature notes

    Li Juduan was from Xinhui in Guangdong province. He studied Western painting while in Peking as a law student, and on his return to Guangzhou practised as a lawyer. He was a traditional ink painter, and calligrapher, and became head of the art college in Guangzhou. At the end of the Sino-Japanese War he moved to Hong Kong, where he and Lui Shou-kwan (q.v.) later became acquainted. The above paintings are signed Li Yanshan but the inscriptions are all signed Kang Hou or Feng Kang Hou (b. 1899, Guangdong) and most bear his seal. Luofo is in the north of Li Juduan's native province of Guangdong, close to the border with Jiangxi province, and it is possible that the allusion is to this group of twelve fan paintings. All twelve bear the same studio seal.
  • Description

    Li Yanshan was a traditional calligrapher and ink painter from Guangdong province. He was head of the Guangzhou Municipal College of Fine Arts in 1930s, where he invited Lingnan artists of different schools to teach, including Zhao Shao’ang (1905-1998), Deng Fen (1894-1964) and Huang Junbi (1898-1991). Li moved to Hong Kong in the late 1930s.

    The six fan paintings displayed here are from a twelve-page album, each page of which depicts an imaginative scenic spot in the Luofu Mountains in eastern Guangdong. Titles and inscriptions on these fan paintings are by Feng Kanghou (1901-1983), who was also from Guangdong and a well-established calligrapher. The Luofu Mountains are a common subject in Lingnan artists’ works. An earlier master Su Liupeng (1796-1862) spent much time in Luofu in the late 19th century. Some of his works are displayed in the exhibition [EA2000.150.a, EA2000.150.e, and EA2007.207].

    The inscription reads ‘On top of the Luofu mountains peaks pile high. There are clouds surrounding it even when it is sunny. Zhuzi [a Philosopher in 12th century China] once reached the peak. He got up in the morning and saw clouds and mist below the mountains. Peaks above clouds seemed to be moving in a sea. If mountains could move, what a miracle it would be!’

  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia China (place of creation)
    AsiaChinaGuangdong province Guangzhou (possible place of creation)
    Asia Macau (possible place of creation)
    AsiaChina Guangdong province (Feiyun Peak) (subject)
    Date
    1939
    Artist/maker
    Li Yanshan (1898 - 1961) (artist)
    Feng Kanghou (1901 - 1983) (scribe)
    Associated people
    Zhu Xi (active Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279)) (named on object)
    Material and technique
    ink and colour on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 40.6 x 55.9 cm (height x width)
    23.4 x 57.15 cm sight size (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance of the Lady Cash Bequest, 1965.
    Accession no.
    EA1965.31
  • Further reading

    Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 64 on p. 86, illus. p. 87 fig. 64

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

    Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    Li Juduan was from Xinhui in Guangdong province. He studied Western painting while in Peking as a law student, and on his return to Guangzhou practised as a lawyer. He was a traditional ink painter, and calligrapher, and became head of the art college in Guangzhou. At the end of the Sino-Japanese War he moved to Hong Kong, where he and Lui Shou-kwan (q.v.) later became acquainted. The above paintings are signed Li Yanshan but the inscriptions are all signed Kang Hou or Feng Kang Hou (b. 1899, Guangdong) and most bear his seal. Luofo is in the north of Li Juduan's native province of Guangdong, close to the border with Jiangxi province, and it is possible that the allusion is to this group of twelve fan paintings. All twelve bear the same studio seal.
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