Ink and colour on silk

25×49 cm. 9 7/8×19 1/4 in.

Signed and dated in Chinese with an artist's seal on bottom left

LITERATURE
1995, Yuan Jai 1993-1995, National Museum of History, Taipei
EXHIBITED
1995, Yuan Jai 1993-1995, National Museum of History, Taipei

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

Timeless Ink, Boundless Splendour
Yuan Jai's Wonderous Landscapes

Born in Chongqing in 1941, Yuan Jai was admitted to the Department of Fine Arts at the National Taiwan Normal University in 1958, where she studied with the masters of Chinese painting Pu Hsin-yu and Huang Chun-pi. In 1962, she went to study in Europe, earning a Master's Degree in the History of Archaeology and Art from the Catholic University of Leuven and a Doctorate Degree from the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Belgium. During her stay in Europe, she saw Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies in the British Museum and was struck by the touching lines and colours of the painting.

In 1969, she was appointed by the National Palace Museum in Taipei as the chief restoration specialist, a position she held for 32 years until her retirement. During this time, she had the opportunity to see national treasures in proximity, which nourished her creative sensibilities. She returned to painting in 1987, creating new landscapes and, in 2020, she became the first Chinese artist to hold a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in France, achieving international fame. Her works are in the collections of Centre Pompidou, the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.

Completed in 1993, the Mountains and Trees(Lot 103) and Sceneries of Mountains and Streams(Lot 102) are two rare early works in Yuan's career. The remaining of her pre-millennium works are scarce, and most of them are already in institution collections, with only six appearing in auctions in the past three decades. These two works are being auctioned for the first time, and are precious items previously held by a private collector for more than thirty years.

Thousand Painted Mountains, Marvelous Rhythms and Hues

"Strong colours are the colours of this era."
—Yuan Jai

In Mountains and Trees, Yuan Jai follows the ancient Chinese method of painting with heavy colours, using bright mineral pigments to bring out the splendour of the fall mountains. With a fine, damp ink brush, she creates numerous but not cluttering mountain ridges. The ink and colours of the mountains stretch out with the flow of the clouds, gradually disappearing into the mist, and then turning into a brilliant haze on the right side. Large blank spaces leave the viewer with boundless possibilities for imagination. In Yuan Jai's vividly detailed painting, she highlights the literati longing to live in a secluded, ethereal utopia by water and grass.

The painting Sceneries of Mountains and Streams is reminiscent of a work by Xia Gui, one of the Four Famous Artists of the Southern Song Dynasty, Streams and Mountains with a Clear Distant View, in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The latter also presents the wonders of the landscape from different perspectives. In this painting, Yuan Jai departs from traditional brushwork. Orange-red peaks of triangular shapes rise to form neat, decorative patterns, while the distant, dark-blue hills appear flat and horizontal. The silhouettes of the mountaintops are emphasized and complemented by a great amount of blank space, creating an ethereal aesthetic. Like coral trees, the branches in the centre form the figure of "8", a symbol of good fortune and infinity. The visual collision between the rigidity and softness of the foreground and the background of the painting reminds us of the Art Nouveau style that Yuan Jai loved when she was younger, which is both rhythmic and natural in its beauty and harmony.

Price estimate:
HKD 30,000 - 50,000
USD 3,800 – 6,400

Auction Result:
HKD: 62,400