Message #48656

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Guys,

    I am not sure I'd hold as 'gospel', the statement that Ding Erzhong never painted a subject twice. I'm sure he didn't do an exact copy ever, since, as a scholar artist, he would not have had a 'subject book' or 'pattern book', like Ye Zhongsan or Ma Shaoxuan.

   But if a friend had seen a bottle of Ding's, and expressed a strong preference for one close to it, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Ding might have chosen to honour the request.

   I doubt that a male scholar would have made such a request, but Ding would have interacted with his hosts' families, albeit in a very circumscribed and circumspect fashion.

   But imagine a child or a woman (which in Chinese culture of the Qing Dynasty, would have been considered on a par; we are NOT talking the 21st C. West, where a woman runs the UK, another runs Germany, and 21 other countries have women leaders.), having seen such a treasure, and asking for one "just like that one''. I doubt Ding would have refused.

   And I know Zhou Leyuan repeated subjects, at least once. This is because I have seen two almost identical copies of my Rooster and chicks subject - mine from the White Wings collection, and another belonging to the Chester Beatty Library collection. Sadly, it's not included in their catalogue. I don't know why it wasn't - I asked Michael Hughes. Of course, the fact that 275 were illustrated out of 942 in the collection might have something to do with it.

Rube's comment has merit, which is why I would appreciate Steven's opinion.

Best,
Joey