Elegant Offerings for the New Year

Date1946

Maker Zhang Daqian Chinese, 1899-1983

Maker Xie Zhiliu Chinese, 1910 - 1997

Label TextFamed artist (and infamous forger) Zhang Daqian was one the first modern Chinese visitors to the ancient desert oasis of Dunhuang in China’s western frontier. He traveled there in the early 1940s to repair and make replicas of the area’s Buddhist cave murals, intending to find inspiration. Zhang invited younger artist Xie Zhiliu to join him. After returning home, they created this charming joint image of ink plants—harbingers of Spring and symbols of renewal. They sent it to a mutual friend to wish him long life and good fortune in the New Year. Zhang did the bamboo and plum; Xie added the camellia, lily, and a poem. The world had gone to war. China’s coastal cities were damaged by battles of civil conflict and foreign aggression. For Zhang, Dunhuang represented a pure Chinese past and was key to reenergizing the Guocui or “National Essence” group. Zhang’s copies of cave murals were later exhibited on a world tour in Paris and at other venues. He even mined Dunhuang imagery to create a master forgery that he sold to a major US museum as an ancient work.

Object number2005.138

ProvenanceGuan Demao關德懋, 1903–1999; Agnes Li (daughter of Guan)

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Credit LineGift of Agnes Li in memory of Mr. Doemou Guan

DimensionsOverall (incl endknobs): 69 × 26 9/16 in. (175.3 × 67.5 cm) Image: 27 1/16 × 16 3/8 in. (68.7 × 41.6 cm)

MediumInk and color on paper