Wang Hui

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Paintings, 9 April 2007, lot 1083

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香港蘇富比，中國書畫，2007年4月9日，拍品編號1083

In these sixteen album leaves, executed entirely in ink wash, there are inspirations from the selections of poetry from Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, as well as imitations of paintings from Song dynasty artists. One leaf features a painting titled Xu Rong’s (1662-1735) "Eight Cedars Cottage". Just as mentioned in the colophon by Dai Xi (1801-1860): “Wang Hui shows and discusses the matter in painting to his student Shanglue (Xu Rong) in this album, hence not merely perfunctory imitations”. It truly demonstrates the intention of practicing various styles to instruct disciples. At the time of writing this, Wang Hui was already seventy-five years old and was highly inspired to paint "Reading Pavilion among Deep Willows" on a fan in color. Upon completion of this album, there were inscriptions by his artistic friends Zhu Yizun (1629-1709) and Xu Yi (1636-1708). Zhu signs on the album page entitled "Southern Hill", while Xu writes a lengthy inscription at the end of the album, narrating about the management of Xu Rong’s Eight Cedars Cottage and the elegant paintings by Wang Hui. Xu Jian (1636-1708), also known as Dianfa, later called himself Fengjiang Fisher, was from Wujiang. He was skilled in ancient poetry, prose, and landscape painting. Zhu Yizun (1629-1709), from Xiushui, was a renowned scholar and proficient in calligraphy as well. Both of them took the public examination in the eighteenth year of Kangxi's reign (1679) and become Wang Hui’s close friends.

From the annotations by Dai Xi, it's known that this album belonged to Jiang Zhongli in Changshu. Jiang Zhongli, also known as Jiang Ziyansheng, was the son of Jiang Baoling (1781-1840). He inherited the family tradition from a young age, excelling in landscape painting and greatly benefiting from the teachings of Qian Du (1764-1845) and Tang Yifen (1778-1853). In the autumn of the second year of Xianfeng's reign (1852), Jiang brought this album to Hangzhou to show Dai Xi. Dai meticulously copied the eleven album leaves and returned. Three years later, Jiang returned, intending to sell it, only seeking Dai Xi's copy of the original. Dai was delighted and added another annotations on a separate paper, detailing the process, and then reassembled the album, writing the titleslip to show his affection.

The album currently seen is a remounted version by Dai Xi in the sixth year of Xianfeng's reign (1856). According to traces in the middle of each album leaf, the original album was likely in the form of narrow folding sheets. When Dai reassembled it, he spread it out into a square shape. The paper used for the additional annotation during the reassembly is different in texture and color from the original paper.

Furthermore, the version of Dai Xi's copy obtained by Jiang Zhongli eventually made its way to the former collector, who also got the Wang Hui one, in the early years of the Republic of China. Both the original and the copy were auctioned by Sotheby's Hong Kong in 2007 and were acquired by the owner of Leshan Tang, continuing the legacy of collecting fine works.

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註：本冊十六開，有取意唐宋元人詩句，有師法宋人畫，其中一開為徐溶繪製其〈八杉草堂圖〉，全出諸水墨，正如戴醇士跋中所言「石谷此冊迺師弟商略繪事之筆，故非汎汎應酬者比。」實具演練各家師法示徒之意。石谷寫此時已七十五歲，同日畫興甚高，再寫〈深柳讀書堂〉設色扇面。本冊寫竟，復有其藝友朱彝尊及徐釚題跋。朱氏於〈南阜〉一開題「竹垞老人真賞」，而徐電髮則長跋於冊末，以敘雲滄經營八杉草堂及石谷所繪諸圖皆屬雅事。徐釚(1636-1708)，字電髮，晚稱楓江漁父，吳江人，工詩文古詞，善山水。朱彝尊(1629-1709)，秀水人，著名學者，亦精書法，他倆皆康熙十八年(1679)應博學鴻詞，與石谷屬好友。

從戴熙後跋可知此冊歸昭文(常熟)蔣仲籬氏。蔣仲籬即蔣茞生，號子延，乃蔣寶齡(1781-1840)子，幼承家學，善山水，得錢杜(1764-1845)、湯貽汾(1778-1853)等薰陶，造詣益進。為其父募資刻成〈墨林今話〉，他亦著〈墨林今話續篇〉。咸豐二年(1852)秋，蔣氏攜冊來杭州示醇士，戴氏手摹十一開還之。三年後，蔣氏復來，劃愛轉讓，祇索走醇士臨本。戴氏甚喜，遂補另紙再跋，詳敘得此經過，並依次重裝成冊，親署簽於冊耑以示寶愛。

目前所見本冊乃咸豐六年(1856)戴熙重裝本，按每開皆有對摺痕迹，原冊可能為對摺窄長方型，戴氏重裝時將其攤開成正方型，他重跋時所用紙張亦另行補上，故紙質色澤與原冊紙張有異。

又蔣茞生所得戴熙臨本，輾轉於民國初期竟為本冊前收藏家購置，祖本與臨本同期在2007年香港蘇富比推出，並一併落入樂山堂主人囊中，延續收藏佳話。