CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY AND ILLUSTRATIONS ON SILK
Pair of calligraphy samplers, each 9" dia. (sight), one each executed by the Chinese calligraphers HUANG ZIYUAN (1837-1918) and Li Yu. The example by Huang Ziyuan depicts a selection of fruits with flowers, and adds six lines of Chinese calligraphy, while the example by Li Yu features approximately seventeen lines of calligraphy in several groups, executing several complex and intricate characters. The verso of one frame bears the pencil inscription: "From the Tung Hoy [Viceroy to Nanking] collection procured by H. Gerry Gardner fm. director Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank 1911/1912", which dates the pieces to the late nineteenth-early twentieth century. In Chinese culture, flowers and fruits often carry symbolic meetings derived from literary sources, and representations of these span Chinese media. Each bears minor soiling and one or two small holes, not affecting the subject, else very good. Framed, untranslated by us, worthy of further research.