Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 (1525-1590)
A fan painting in ink on gold paper, bamboo and rock, circa 1560s-80s.
Xiang's poetic couplet reads:
Dense, dense, the nodes of 'this gentleman'
Grand, grand, the wind (manner) of the ancients.
Signed: Xiang Yuanbian, with one gourd-shaped seal of the artist: Zijing.
Painted area: 16.5 x 51 cm (6 ½ x 20 inches).
Xiang Yuanbian, zi: Zijing; hao: Molin, etc., was the greatest collector and connoisseur of paintings and antiquities of the late Ming dynasty, but he also painted quite extensively; typically ink landscapes and such small-scale studies as this fan. From Jiaxing, Zhejiang, he was the cultural rival of his fellow townsman Li Rihua (1565-1635), an important paintings theorist; and the survival of their two art families through the Ming-Qing transition is fascinating to observe. His grandson Xiang Shengmo (1597-1658) was one of the early Qing's finest painters.
Two collectors’ seals: one of Wu Yuanhui (early-mid 19th century), the other of Liang Huiwu (early 20th century).
The fan was subsequently in the collection of Qiu Yan (Edward T. Chow), 1910-1980.