At the end of the 20th century, Xie Zhiliu and Chen Peiqiu, a famous calligrapher and painter in Shanghai, donated one of their best Song Dynasty landscape scrolls to the Shanghai Museum. At the just-concluded China Guardian Autumn 2021 auction, their family's ancient anon. Landscape Painting was auctioned for 77.625 million yuan.
At Christie's Hong Kong's Autumn Auction this month, a calligraphy hand scroll of literati in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties fetched a high price of 34 million yuan.
The late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty literati calligraphy hand scrolls sold at Christie's Hong Kong Autumn Auction for 34 million. Image from Artron Auction Catalogue (screenshot)
"This year's autumn auction of calligraphy and painting market shows a great trend of Song and Yuan works, and also brings heat to Ming Dynasty calligraphy and painting." Ningbo collector Jiang Binda (nicknamed Xiao Zhai), who just returned to Yong from Beijing to participate in the Jiade and Poly Qiu auctions," told reporters. Just at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Fu Shan and other albums were auctioned for 11 million yuan, and the value of Shen Zhou's calligraphy works, the head of the Ming Four Families, also began to return, and the auction site often sold for millions of yuan at a high price. "Seven or eight years ago, I only bought such a calligraphy work for about 300,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, and I can't buy it later." Xiao Zhai said with emotion.
So, how does ancient calligraphy and painting perform in the Ningbo collection market? The reporter conducted an investigation.
The collection of ancient paintings in Yongcheng has risen steadily
After the collection of calligraphy and paintings has experienced a boom in the pursuit of modern masterpieces, the value of Song and Yuan calligraphy and paintings in the entire Chinese art collection market is returning. The Ningbo market is no exception. This is an analysis made by Xiao Zhai after the autumn auction of artworks across the country ran a circle.
In recent years, in the Ningbo collection market, compared with the soaring market of modern famous calligraphy and painting, the ancient Song and Yuan calligraphy and painting market has risen steadily.
A few years ago, Ningbo collector Xiao Zhai helped a friend buy a book by Yang Yuancheng, a navigator and calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty, for 320,000 yuan. Only half a year later, in an autumn auction in Shanghai, Xiao Zhai helped a friend to send this calligraphy work to the auction, and the work was auctioned from 30,000 yuan and finally sold for 400,000 yuan.
Yang Yuancheng's book post. Image from Artron Auction Catalogue (screenshot).
In fact, with the return of the value of Song and Yuan calligraphy and painting, Ningbo collectors who played ancient calligraphy and painting often had big strokes. CCTV's "National Treasure Archives" once broadcast two of Zhu Xi's famous calligraphy works, "Chengnan Singing and Poetry Scrolls" and "Autumn Confession of Illness Zaiju Poetry Volume". Among them, the hand scroll on paper of "Autumn Confession of Illness and Zaiju Poems" is written by Huang Bolin, a senior collector of calligraphy and painting in Cixi. The only cursive calligraphy of Zhu Xi in large characters was photographed by Huang Bolin from the United States for 20 million yuan.
"National Treasure Archives" broadcast "Autumn Sick Saiju Poetry Volume" (screenshot).
The Southern Song Dynasty Ningbo literati hand scroll auctioned 630,000
"In fact, Song and Yuan calligraphy pays more attention to academic research, and once the deeds of birth and death are examined, its calligraphy value is huge, and it is likely to be an orphan product passed down from generation to generation." It makes up for the song and yuan poetry calligraphy materials. Xiao Zhai said.
The collection value of Famous Calligraphy Masterpieces of Ningbo Song and Yuan Dynasties is undoubtedly quite high, but the difficulty of collection is also quite large, and it is difficult to find it in the current market. Due to the concentration of auctions in various places, it is difficult to balance the north and the south, and Xiao Zhai once missed a hand scroll of the Ningbo literati of the Southern Song Dynasty, which is of great research value for the study of the history of the Siming Dynasty.
That is one of the famous "Four Gentlemen of Chunxi", Shen Huan cursive handwriting of Shen Huan, a Zhenhai person in the Southern Song Dynasty, which was sold for 632,500 yuan in 2017 in Beijing Poly Autumn Auction.
Open the Artron auction catalogue to get a glimpse of this Southern Song Dynasty literati hand scroll. Shen Huan (paragraph) cursive scroll hand scroll, made in 1181, the beginning of the volume is a portrait of Shen Huan, the painting is 26cm in length and 19cm in width, and the portrait of Shen Huan is a magnificent figure and a dignified appearance. The main text of the calligraphy is Du Fu's poem "SendIng Kong Chao Father Xie Sick to Return to Jiangdong Lamb Presenting Li Bai", the calligraphy is 26 in length and 119 cm in width. The inscription on the portrait at the beginning of the volume is written about Shen Huan's life deeds.
The inscription at the end of the volume reads: 曩在吾試 to write this article in the Huaisu brushwork, that is, to remember it as if it were like, the rain has passed. Shi Chunxi was in Yongsan Jingshe in the eighth year of his reign. Nanshan resident Shen Huan. Plutonium Seal: Han Mo Lin Fang.
Shen Huan (paragraph) cursive scroll hand scroll. Image from Artron Auction Catalogue (screenshot).
These words reveal Shen Huan's mental journey in creating hand scrolls: I often wrote Du Fu's poems in Huaisu's brushwork, and I remember a little bit of what it was like at that time, writing Du Fu's poems in front of the rainy window, written in the eighth year of Chunxi (that is, in 1181).
According to the Ningbo Evening News, Shen Huan took Nanshan as his name, and scholars respectfully called him "Mr. Nanshan". Shen Huanben lived in Changying Lane, the east of Dinghai (Zhenhai), where the "Nanshan Academy" was founded, and the "Nanshan Academy" was the first private academy founded in Zhenhai.
Chen Menglian, who participated in the study of Zhenhai County's chronicle during the Kangxi Dynasty, said: "In the land of the present-day haiyu, Duanxian (Shen Huanyu) created the religion for it, and Jiaoshui (referring to Zhenhai) became Su Si (Confucius lived here to teach students), and the humanities rose up, and it is still said that Mr. Shen Huan's legacy has not faded", which shows the great influence of Shen Huan on Zhenhai education.
Shen Huan's contribution is not only in teaching and educating people, he also has a thunderous name, he was honored with Yang Jian, Yuan Xie, Shu Xuan as "Yongshang Chunxi Four Mr.", the four scholars are both fellow villagers and classmates, studying together in Lu Jiuyuan, and became the main figures of the Southern Song Dynasty.
"Such a generation of great Confucians, who are rich in the spirit of re-teaching and teaching and have had a far-reaching influence on the Siming academic and educational circles for 800 years, the hand scrolls he has devoted himself to creating, integrating paintings, calligraphy, poetry and inscriptions into one furnace, after understanding these calligraphy and painting knowledge and the artist's creation, and then looking at this Southern Song Dynasty Ningbo literati hand scroll, whether from the perspective of collection value, investment value, or artistic value, it is a rare treasure." A senior collector in Ningbo sighed.
No Song painting emphasizes artistic standards
Compared with Song and Yuan calligraphy, at present, Gaogu paintings have been objectively positioned on the "artistic level", rather than blindly pursuing fame, bibliography and publication.
According to reports, the number of Song paintings is extremely rare, and the number of the world's top museums plus private collections of paintings is estimated not to exceed 1500, of which more than 95% are without funds.
Huang Tingjian's "Cursive Liu Yu Xi Bamboo Branch Scroll" as the treasure of the town museum occasionally appeared in the exhibition of calligraphy and painting treasures collected by the Tianyi Pavilion. In 1978, when Xu Bangda, a master of calligraphy and painting appraisal, came to Tianyi Pavilion for appraisal, the treasure of the town hall was only shelved as an old painting that was not signed by Huang Tingjian. From the study of silk paper, calligraphy, seals and other aspects, Xu Bangda concluded that this was Huang Tingjian's original handwriting.
Senior collectors in Ningbo revealed that museums and traditional collectors cherish the works of the Song and Yuan dynasties the most, followed by hot names such as "Ming Sijia", "Qingteng Baiyang", "Huating Dong Qichang", "Four Monks", "Four Kings Wu Yun", "Yangzhou Eight Monsters" and so on.