A catalogue of the Ashmolean collection of Chinese paintings by Shelagh Vainker (published Oxford, 2000).
Xiao Sun was from Huaining in Anhui province. He travelled throughout China and eventually settled in Beijing, where he held a succession of teaching posts. He was also an active member of Chen Hengke’s Society for the Study of Chinese Painting in the 1920s.
Here the artist inscribes: 'I once saw a painting of snow by Gengyan sanren [aka Wang Hui (1632-1717)] in the style of Youcheng [aka Wang Wei (AD 701-761)]; it is neat and tidy, but too rigid. It is not as good as the works of Shi Tao [c.1642-1707], which are rough and untidy, but appear more interesting. That is [a level that] I cannot reach; this painting only achieves a similar appearance’. He adds: ‘I have made four paintings with titles starting with the numbers “ten”, “hundred”, “thousand” and “ten thousand”, and I believe they deserve to be treasured’.
Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 145 on p. 170, illus. p. 171 fig. 145
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