Gai Qi (1774-1829) Qing Dynasty, Chinese ink and color painting on paper laid to silk, hanging scroll. Hand painted with fine brushstrokes and shades of natural light color depicted a scene from Dream of the Red Chamber, HongLouMeng, a female figure dressed in elaborate traditional robe seated beneath a tree and two attendants; calligraphy inscriptions on upper left, with two red signature seals.
Mounted on creme silk border.


Dimension: 86" L x 20" W
inner painting: 40" L x 14" W

PROVENANCE:
From the collection of General Chen Qi (陳淇) (1912-2000), who styled himself as “Cangquan” (滄泉）and “Yuquanshanren”（玉泉山人), an artist, calligrapher, a prominent businessman and private antiques collector.
EDEN Fine Antiques Galleries is honored and proud to offer General Chen Qi's heirloom collections including unpublished Qi BaiShi paintings, Fu BaoShi, Zhang DaQian as well as his own calligraphy and paintings.
General Chen Qi's collections can be found on Lot 17, 18, 19, 20, and Lot-88 through Lot-142, continuing at Lot 265 through Lot-298.
For more information about General Chen Qi's Biography, please refer to provenance information at Lot 288.

LOT NOTES:

Gai Qi (Chinese; zi Bowen, hao Qiliang, secondary hao Yuhu waishi (1774-1829) was a poet and painter born in western China during the Qing dynasty. As an artist, he was active in Shanghai. In painting his works mainly concerned plants, beauty, and figures. However he also did numerous landscapes. In poetry he preferred the rhyming ci form and added such poems to his paintings.
His social circle included prominent literati as well as artists. He organized both a literary society and a Buddhist lay society. His work often used a delicate baimiao (outline) style, which can be clearly see in his illustrations for Honglou meng, (Dream of the Red Chamber). The illustrations are chiefly portraits of the main characters in the novel. Numerous poets, including the renowned woman poet Zhou Qi, wrote poems to accompany the illustrations.
The scholar Wang Qisun commissioned Gai Qi to paint an album of famous Chinese women, both historical and legendary. Wang's second wife, Cao Zhenxiu wrote poems about the women and did the calligraphy in the album. Gai took as a student the talented woman painter and poet Qian Shoupu (ca. 1801-1869). He was associated with the painter Fei Danxu in what has been called the "Gai Fei" school. Gai's grandson continued the tradition of the Gai Fei school, along with descendants of Fei Danxiu. He is perhaps best known today for the Hongloumeng tiyong, a book of portraits of characters in Dream of the Red Chamber accompanied by poems about the characters. The book was based on paintings done by Gai Qi, but was not published until 1884, long after its death. The book is still in print.

Over all in EXCELLENT Condition. Natural imperfection on the medium (paper or silk), regardless from any major damages; includes light blooms, discoloration and minor fading. Consider normal due to the ages.
The bidder assumes responsibility for ensuring that the condition of the item(s) meets with their satisfaction prior to bidding. Any condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client, and is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. EDEN Galleries shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging.