Oil on wood board

42×29 cm. 16 1/2×11 3/8 in.

Signed in English and dated on bottom left (Still Life with Terracotta Urn);
Signed in English and dated on the bottom (Tiger Head)

LITERATURE
2003, Aesthetic Images of Ding Yanyong's Paintings, National Museum of History, Taipei, p. 66 and 103
2020, Ting Yinyung Catalogue Raisonné: Oil Paintings, Rita Wong, The Li—Ching Cultural and Educational Foundation, Taipei, p. 148 and 295
EXHIBITED
5 Aug - 21 Sep 2003, Aesthetic Images of Ding Yanyong's Paintings, National Museum of History, Taipei

PROVENANCE
18 Apr 1993, Sotheby's Taipei Spring Auction, Lot 49
Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above

Bridging Epochs, Distilling Wisdom
Ting Yinyung's Rare Double-Sided Paintings from the 1960s

Ting Yinyung's collection journey began in 1929 when he served as Director of the Fine Arts Department at the Guangzhou Museum, where he developed a deep passion for appreciating Chinese calligraphy and paintings, as well as epigraphy and engraving. After moving to Hong Kong in 1949, Ting began merging the topos of ancient Chinese scripts with Western artistic techniques to create a unique body of oil paintings that "not only captures the physical appearance but also the spiritual essence of Chinese characters." By the 1960s, he had also delved into seal engraving, with "tiger"-Ting's zodiac animal-becoming a recurring and iconic motif. The double-sided painting Tiger Head, presented in this auction, exemplifies the tiger totem that is commonly seen in his pictorial seals, serving as a "calligraphic self-portrait" which reflects both Ting's artistic innovation and his reverence for tradition.

Majestic Tiger: A Zoomorphic Self-Portrait via Revitalizing Antiquity

Ting's "tiger"-themed oil paintings draw from archaic seal styles inspired by oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, while also embracing the unrestrained evolution of primitive art and Western modernism. Additionally, they showcase Ting's smart combination of the Chinese paintings' brushworks, pictogram characters, and precise form-shaping using oil paint. Early traces of tiger heads appear in Ting's 1955 works The Origin of a Civilization and Hong Hu I. In 1963, Tiger marks the debut of a full-body depiction rendered in grid patterns. Driven by his fondness for this imagery, Ting revisited "tiger head" as the subject in 1965 and produced the present lot. He deliberately enlarged the tiger's head, positioning it at the canvas's core. When it comes to the shape of the tiger, Ting merged the design of Shang-dynasty's Bronze "Animal Mask" Helmet with rectangular shields, to create an alert, majestic creature with piercing eyes and erect ears-a metaphorical self-representation. Ting eschewed the conventional structure of the Chinese character "tiger(虎)", focusing instead on its pure lines and forms. Through an innocent, childlike simplicity of "judging paintings by its resemblance to the subject", he embodied the modern painting's notion of "simplifying the complex" and the seal-engraving philosophy of "balancing red and white spaces."

Primordial Vigour: A Tiger Forged in Ink

In the background, Ting evoked the rustic texture of ancient artifacts by applying thick, gritty media to create uneven surfaces resembling natural bronze or stone engravings, as if replicating the act of carving on tortoise shells. The tiger head appears to burst forth from this primal terrain. The "tiger" glyph lurks within dense emerald forest anchored in ochre earth, and is accented by wisps of crimson-its skeletal form as if channels the cosmic order, carrying the primordial essence of heaven and earth.

Seal-Engraved Legacy: The Beloved Tiger Head Oil Painting

Among Ting's 72 oil paintings exploring "symbols and totems," seven focus on the "tiger", interwoven with his seal engraving practice and recurring in his figurative works. The Tiger Head motif reappears in his 1967 Portrait of a Woman with Tiger Head and 1969 Portrait with Tiger Head, adorning hand-painted seals, and graces the book cover of Ting Yinyung's Seal Engravings. Ting also carved an identical seal from this painting, stamping it on numerous ink works, further cementing Tiger Head's iconic status and his profound attachment to it.

Antiquarian Charm: A Blessing for Prosperity

Ting's reverence for antiquity extends to the reverse side, Still Life with Terracotta Urn. The urn's rustic surface, adorned with primitive motifs, aligns with his aesthetic ideals. Among his 62 documented still lifes, only ten works focus on ancient artifacts; this 1965 work is the earliest and most significant, marking his shift from floral subjects to archaic pottery and from Western to Eastern sensibilities.

The painted pottery echoes ancient Greek black-figure amphorae in its elongated form and figural style. Ting synthesised Greek simplicity with Chinese Majiayao ceramic artistry, depicting three figures stoking a fire, roasting meat-a homage to primal communal life. The long-snouted beast, possibly a wild boar (a prehistoric quarry), evokes Cantonese "roast suckling pig," a dish symbolising "auspicious fortune." On the side, persimmons and pears represent "perpetual blessings" and "great luck," embodying the artist's hopes for a flourishing life.

Timeless Journey: An Aesthetic Truth Bridging Past and Present, East and West

Since his 1920s studies in Japan, Ting admired Fauvism's bold hues. Here, he blends Greek terracotta's orange-red with Chinese pottery's ochre, achieving a primal cave-painting palette. Geometric patterns-black circles and waves over crimson triangles-heighten the decorative flatness prized in modern art. Figures adorned in red accents and animal hides, alongside blazing flames, animate the scene with vivid vitality and create the visual effects of "flattening" and "decorativeness" sought by modern painting.

Ting absorbed the raw energy of Primitivism and Fauvism, merging it with the spiritual brevity of 17th-century painter Bada Shanren. Through Chinese seal engraving, pictographs, and calligraphic brushwork, he forged a unique aesthetic, epitomized in this double-sided masterpiece that "transcends time and bridges East and West."

Price estimate:
HKD 1,000,000 - 1,800,000
USD 128,200 - 230,800