ATTRIBUTED TO SHEN QUAN (1682-1760?)
Two Cranes and Peaches
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, absent signature and seals.
47 1/4 x 27 3/4in (120 x 70.5cm)
Footnotes:
（傳）沈銓 雙鶴捧壽 設色絹本 立軸

Published:
Kaikodo Journal Spring 2009, No. 42, p.114-115

出版：
《懷古堂》2009年春，圖版42，頁114-115

The main pictorial elements here are freighted with auspicious meanings; cranes and peaches are common symbols of longevity and immortality. The image together connotes best wishes for long life and great success in future endeavors, a perfect painting to contribute to the celebration of a birthday.

The painting is not signed but the approach and style seen here are very close to Shen Quan (1682-1760?), a highly-skilled artist from Wuxing in Zhejiang Province. Responding to a call from Yoshimune, the Japanese shogun in Edo, Shen Quan travelled to Japan in 1731 and spent the following two years working with three disciples who had accompanied him to train a number of Japanese painters, who came to be classified as members of the Nagasaki school, named after the city in which Shen Quan was based.

Returning to China in 1733, Shen Quan continued to satisfy the demands for the Japanese market; at least two-thirds of his extant paintings from all periods are to be found in Japanese collections, the source of the present painting as well. In Shen Quan's later paintings the bird, flower, and animal subjects were rendered with even more naturalistic detail.