ZHANG PENGCHONG (Juading, Jiangsu 1688-1745).
"Landscape with tree and mountains".
Fan leaf with ink and watercolour on paper.
Signed by the artist, with stamp: "Nan Hua San Xian".
Presents collector's stamp.
Size: 25 x 53 cm; 35.5 x 63 cm (frame).
Zhang Pengchong is a famous Chinese painter of the 18th century from the city of Juading in the province of Jiangsu. He is also known by the pseudonym Tianfei (an epithet of Tianhua Sanxian). Although there is little documentation of his life, there is evidence that in 1727 the painter did military service in the city of Jinshi.
Throughout the 18th century Zhang Pengchong achieved great prestige as a painter, being famous for his beautiful and refined calligraphies. He may have followed the style of earlier painters such as Shu Shi, who may have served as a model for Zhang, without ever renouncing his own personal style. Zhang Pengchong specialised in landscape painting, a genre for which he used the master landscape painters of the Yuan period as a reference. Such was the fame he acquired in his day that he received an award from the Qianlong Emperor himself in recognition of his merits as a painter. Such decorations were a rare exception, no doubt only for the best artists.