Extraordinarily Rare and Beautiful TUNG YUAN, Chinese Master, Vtg. Print

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Extraordinarily Rare and Beautiful TUNG YUAN, Chinese Master, Vtg. Print:
$175.00

Here for your collecting pleasure we are offering an extremely rare print taken from a silk scroll painted by one of the great masters of Chinese painting in the tenth century: TUNG YÜAN, also spelled Dong Yüan (c.934 – c. 962). Tung Yüan was born in Zhongling (present day Jinxian of Jiangxi Province). Tung Yuan was active in the Southern Tang Kingdom of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He was from Nanjing in the Jiangsu province, which was a center for culture and the arts, and served as an official at the Southern T’ang dynasty court. Tung Yüan was known for both figure and landscape paintings, and exemplified the elegant style which would become the standard for brush painting in China for the next nine centuries. He and his pupil Chu-Jan were the founders of the Southern style of landscape painting, known as the Jiangnan Landscape style. Together with Jing Hao and Guan Tong of the Northern style, they constituted the four seminal painters of that time. As with many artists in China, his profession was as an official. He studied the existing styles of Li Sixun and Wang Wei; however, he added to these masters\' techniques even as he surpassed them. He included more sophisticated perspective, the use of pointillism, and the use of crosshatching to build up a vivid effect. Tung Yüan’s landscapes delineate majestic scenery; lower hills serve as a screen above which mountain peaks rise with stately presence. Such scenery gives the viewer a profound impression of the grandeur of nature. This work, the Taoist Temple in the Mountains, an ink and colourpainting on silk (183.2cm by 121.2cm), is one of his best-known masterpieces. It demonstrates his exquisite techniques, and his sense of composition. The clouds break the background mountains into a central pyramid composition and a secondary pyramid, by softening the mountain line, he makes the immobile effect more pronounced. The clouds, by breaking the landscape into groups, makes the serenity of the foreground more pronounced, instead of simply being a border to the composition, it is a space of its own, into which the bridge on the lower right asserts, even though it is tiny compared to the mountains. In the bottom section, he uses his unusual brush stroke techniques, later copied in countless paintings, to give a strong sense of foliage to the trees, which contrasts with the rounded waves of stone that make up the mountains themselves. This gives the painting a more distinct middle ground, and makes the mountains have an aura and distance which gives them greater grandeur and personality. One of his definitive techniques is to use \"face like\" patterns in the mountains, evident in this painting. There are three collectors’ seals which read, ‘Ch’ing-hsu fu,’ ‘chih chih-i,’ and ‘Hsüan-t’ung yü-lan chih-pao.’ Another of Tung Yüan’s paintings, The Riverbank, is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was a gift from New York financier Oscar Tang. This extraordinarily rare print was made in China under the authorization of the National Palace Museum of Taipei, Republic of China, in whose collection the original silk scroll resides. This print measures 20-3/8” by 14-1/2”; the borders of this print are of traditional rich ivory brocade print, with the centered print itself measuring 17-1/4” in height by 9-3/4” in width. The back of the print is inscribed in Chinese and in English with a description of the print and a short biography of the artist. Although the print is not dated in English, it is assuredly of an older vintage, perhaps about 50 to 60 years of age. I do not know their actual date of manufacture, as these were originally purchased by my parents, who had the good sense to acquire them in the 1960s. The print is in excellent condition for its age with minor corner bumps but no scratches, tears, marks, foxing, or other flaws that we can find anywhere. The colour of the print is true as taken from the original scroll and exhibits the deep tan-gold background patina one expects to find in ancient silk. What appear to be lighter marks in the upper section of the print are the true paler colours of the silk where it was pulled and tugged with age before its acquisition by the National Palace Museum; these are not considered flaws but rather marks of character which can only be acquired with its ancient age.The print is on heavy, smooth stock with a very slight semi-gloss (eggshell) finish. It is an exquisitely beautiful and extremely rare print. It had never been framed or displayed, and thus exhibits no fading. The print comes to you from an owner who is a professional theatrical costume designer and collector of vintage items. It has been carefully kept in a smoke-free, climate-controlled Environment, an antique-filled household where it has been stored away from sunlight and has been treated with respect and appreciation. We are starting it at a low beginning offer with . Please see the attached photos. A highly desirable addition to any collection, it is agrand print and has looked great in the collection but now we are preparing to relocate and don\'t want to move all these hundreds of items. Please check our other sales for more antique/vintage items. All estate items we offer on , including this one, are sold as-is. They are not sold \"on approval\" and are generally not returnable. We have a certain degree of experience and expertise but are not professional experts. If you have any questions about this or any of our other items, please e-mail BEFORE you offer and we will be happy to answer anything we can. Payment must be received within 10 days of the end of the sale; shipping will take place the next business day after payment is received. At this time,we are able to accept Paypal only. Because of therecent increase inpostage rates,we areonly able to ship throughout the USA.Postal insurance is not required by and is notincluded in this shipping cost; it is an option to be decided by the Buyer and added at the Buyer\'s request. Uninsured items are shipped at the Buyer\'s risk via U.S. Postal Service. If you want postal insurance, please notify Seller as soon as you win the offer, andpostal insurance fees will be added to your invoice before Seller submits the invoice to you. We cannot and will not be held responsible for loss or damage that may occur to uninsured items during shipping and/or once the item has left our hands for shipping. Please note: U.S. Mail takes from 4 to 21 days for delivery. Good luckofferding!