Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A catalogue of the Ashmolean collection of Chinese paintings by Shelagh Vainker (published Oxford, 2000).

Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

Publications online: 222 objects

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The Four Seasons

  • Literature notes

    Gao Qipei grew up in Jianchang (present Nancheng) in Jiangxi province, though his family had Manchurian connections. He had a successful career as an official in southern China but was better known as a painter. His earlier works were predominantly figure paintings and landscapes in meticulous traditional style, though he later built up a reputation as an eccentric and is particularly well-known for finger-painting. The eigth-century painter Zhang Zhao was the first to use finger instread of brush, but the technique became closely associated with Gao.
  • Description

    Gao Qipei is well known for painting with his fingers rather than using a brush. He adopted the technique later in his career, having previously painted landscapes and figures in a meticulous style. In this painting he depicts fish and plants associated with the different seasons alongside ancient bronze ritual vessels, combining the natural and the archaic. The first known finger-painter is Zhang Zhao who was active around AD 750, and the practice continued through a small number of artists, mostly regarded as eccentrics.

  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia China (place of creation)
    Date
    1660 - 1734
    Artist/maker
    attributed to Gao Qipei (1660 - 1734) (artist)
    Material and technique
    ink and colour on paper, probably finger painted
    Dimensions
    30.48 x 50.8 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Sir John Addis, 1977.
    Accession no.
    EA1977.6
  • Further reading

    Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 29 on p. 51, illus. pp. 51-53 fig. 29

Location

    • Ground floor | Room 10 | China to 800

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Publications online

  • Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

    Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    Gao Qipei grew up in Jianchang (present Nancheng) in Jiangxi province, though his family had Manchurian connections. He had a successful career as an official in southern China but was better known as a painter. His earlier works were predominantly figure paintings and landscapes in meticulous traditional style, though he later built up a reputation as an eccentric and is particularly well-known for finger-painting. The eigth-century painter Zhang Zhao was the first to use finger instread of brush, but the technique became closely associated with Gao.
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