J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
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ELEGANTLY MADE: Art for the Chinese Literati
March 13-27, 2020
17.
A PAIR OF FRAMED DALI MARBLE ‘STONE PAINTINGS’
By Ruan Yuan (1764-1849)
the two panels, one horizontal and one vertical, with natural markings in the stone evoking scenes of mountain peaks in rising mist and clouds, mounted for hanging in matching antique wood frames.
The horizontal panel inscribed in running script:
石中有畫畫中詩 A picture in the stone and a poem in the picture,
金粉丹青屬阿誰 But who could paint with such gold pigment, reds and
greens!
覓得唐人好詩意 I found in it an excellent line by a Tang poet,
宛然花烏夕陽遲 How vivid, “on a floral isle evening sunlight lingers.”
Signed Boyuan, a zi of Ruan Yuan: 伯元题於琅環仙館 (Boyuan composed at the Langhuan Hall of Immortals), followed by one seal of the artist: 阮氏石 (Stone of Mr. Ruan), with a second seal in the lower left corner: 琅環僊館 (Jade Garland Immortals Hall), Ruan Yuan’s studio name.
The vertical panel inscribed with a title in seal script:
山意向秋多 (Mountain Mood Tends Much Toward Autumn), followed by a comment in running script: 元好問句偶屬郭河陽寫法於憶園 (a verse by Yuan Haowen matched with the painting style of Guo Heyang at the Garden for Recollection), beside a poem by 馬戴 Ma Dai (d. 869) at the upper-left, followed by a comment: 書唐人詩於憶園窗下 (a verse by a Tang poet transcribed beneath the window at the Garden for Recollection), with a long poem by 貢師泰 Gong Shitai (1298-1362) at the lower right, followed by a comment: 元人貢師泰句 (a verse by the Yuan poet Gong Shitai) and two seals: 石 and 生 (together: Begotten in stone), with two artist’s seals at the bottom-left: 石癖 (Stone Mania) and 阮氏伯元珍藏 (treasured by Mr. Ruan Boyuan).
Horizontal panel 9 3⁄4 x 12 1⁄4 inches (24 x 31 cm)
Vertical panel 13 3⁄4 x 12 1⁄4 inches (35 x 31 cm)
Each overall 23 1⁄8 x 18 inches (58.7 x 45.7 cm)
Provenance
Poon Family Collection, acquired at Whampoa, Guangdong, circa 1890-1920 and thence by descent within the family
Christie’s New York, Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 14-15 September 2009, lot 248
Ruan Yuan (阮元, 1764-1849), zi Boyuan (伯元), hao Yuntai (芸臺), was a respected scholar, high official and connoisseur-collector from Yizheng, near Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. He obtained the Jinshi degree in 1789 and was appointed to the Hanlin Academy in the following year. He had a long official career, rising to the rank of Grand Secretary, and he was a prolific scholar, writing on a wide range of topics, including both ancient and contemporary arts.
Ruan Yuan had a special interest in the art of cutting, polishing and framing marble selected for its dramatic natural markings, particularly marble from Dali, Yunnan province, to create semi-abstract imagery on panels which he called 石畫 shihua (stone paintings). Ruan Yuan wrote a treatise on marble panels of this type entitled 石畫記 Shihua ji (Commentary of Stone Paintings), recording a number of stone panels he had inscribed, noting their texts and sizes. The horizontal panel shown here is the first example which can be directly associated with Ruan Yuan’s published record. It is thought likely the rest of his collection was lost when his estate in Yangzhou was destroyed during the Taiping rebellion shortly after his death.
A similar Dali marble ‘stone painting’ inscribed and signed by Ruan Yuan is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by Hart (ed.) in the catalogue of the special exhibition, Museum of Stones: Ancient and Contemporary Art at the Noguchi Museum, New York, 2016, p. 113, no. 55.
Compare also the Dali marble panel mounted as a table screen inscribed and signed by Ruan Yuan, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated by Jacobsen and Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 210-211, no. 79.
清 阮元製 詩文石畫一對 帶框 58.7 x 45.7 厘米
橫幅 「花烏夕陽遲」詩文 「阮氏石」「琅環僊館」印
24 x 31 厘米
豎幅 「山意向秋多」詩文 「石」「生」「石癖」
「阮氏伯元珍藏」印
35 x 31 厘米
來源 潘家舊藏，1890-1920 年代購自廣東黃埔，後傳潘家後人
紐約佳士得 2009 年 9 月 15 日，拍品第 248 號
