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Meihua Villagefront

© The artist's estate

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Meihua Village

  • 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 ‘I have never been to the Luofu Mountains. These twelve fan paintings arose from my imagination [of the view in Luofu].’

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Asia › China (place of creation)
    Asia › China › Guangdong province › Guangzhou (possible place of creation)
    Asia › Macau (possible place of creation)
    Asia › China › Guangdong province (Meihua Village) (subject)
    Date
    1939
    Artist/maker
    Li Yanshan (1898 - 1961) (artist)
    Feng Kanghou (1901 - 1983) (scribe)
    Material and technique
    ink and colour on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 40.6 x 55.9 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    covered › coated › painted,
    marked › painted,
    decorated › painted,
    painted,
    drawn (image) › line drawing › brush drawing
    Object type index
    clothing › personal accessory › fan › fan-painting,
    visual representation › painting,
    visual representation › painting › fan-painting
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance of the Lady Cash Bequest, 1965.
    Accession no.
    EA1965.35

  • Further reading

    Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 68 on p. 89, p. 91, illus. p. 89 fig. 68

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.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum