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

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Peoniesfront

© The artist's estate

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Peonies

  • loan

  • Description

    Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) is one of the most important figures in 20th century Chinese art. Never afraid to experiment, he took up the western method of lithography and produced prints in Chinese subjects of flowers, birds, and landscapes. He produced many of these prints in 1972 and 1974 while in San Francisco, including this print of peonies. In China, peony is generally known as 'the king of flowers', symbolizing honour, wealth, and aristocracy, as well love, affection, and feminine beauty. It is usual in Chinese flower painting to depict only a flowering spray rather than the whole plant. The inscription reads "In September of a jiayin year, the 63rd year of the People's Republic. The old man Yuan [Zhang Daqian] at 76. For my elder brother Michael [Sullivan] to correct. [Reinscribed] on 15th June of a yimao year, the seond year [after this print was made]. The younger brother Daqian, Zhang Yuan."

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Date
    September 1974 - June 1975
    Artist/maker
    Zhang Daqian (1899 - 1983) (printmaker)
    Associated people
    Michael Sullivan (1916 - 2013) (named on object)
    Material and technique
    lithograph
    Dimensions
    sheet 53.4 x 73.4 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    printed › planographic print › lithograph
    Object type index
    visual representation › print
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    On loan from the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection.
    Accession no.
    LI2022.173

  • Further reading

    Sullivan, Michael, Modern Chinese Art: The Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection, revised edn (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2009), no. 152 on p.154, illus. p.154 fig. II.152

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

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