Ink and colour on rice paper mounted on paper

86 x 156.5 cm. 33 7/8 x 61 5/8 in.

One artist’s seal on bottom right
LITERATURE
2004, New Freehand Paintings of Six Artists, Yisu Lang Art Gallery, Singapore, p.147

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Asia

Peng Wei is one of the artists who have dedicated themselves to the exploration of contemporary Chinese ink painting and Gongbi painting. Her emotions are delicate, and her character is a little rebellious. She boldly uses new media to express the elements she has chosen from traditional culture, proposing an alternative to classical Oriental style. Since 2000, she has used colored ink to print common elements of traditional Chinese painting （such as flowers, plants, birds, and animals） on rice paper, linen, or even the bottom of women's shoes or directly on the bodies of her models, having created many works using this technique.
Colourful Expression of Brocade 1 features multi-layered coloring on rice paper, depicting a stone-blue, straight-necked, and wide-sleeved traditional cloak. It has a woolen, fabric-like texture, and Peng used pastel pink and white to create decorative patterns such as swans, lotus flowers, and reeds. The pattern sparkles with beautiful brilliance, suggesting that the actual clothes the artist was inspiredby were embroidered with gold and silver threads. The fox fur on the front and around the cuffs makes the cloak look more luxurious. This “swans with lotus” pattern originated from the daily lives of nomadic peoples such as the Khitan, Jurchen, and Mongols during the Song （960–1279） and Yuan （1271–1368） dynasties. It comes from the jade carving pattern “eagle hunting a swan”, which has slowly evolved over time, with elements such as lotuses, reeds, and water ripples eventually added. In the early years of the Ming dynasty （1368–1644）, the eagle was omitted, therefore leading to jade carving works of the early Ming dynasty featuring such swan with lotus patterns. Peng Wei utilized this pattern with deep cultural connotations and put it on a cloak that could have been worn by a scholar of the Ming dynasty, an image of the prosperous ancient Chinese world she has in her imagination.

Price estimate:
HKD:180,000 - 300,000
USD: 22,900 - 38,200

Auction Result:
HKD : --