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Please can anyone read the script and seal on this old watercolour on silk,, it measures approx 14 inches by 10 inches,, appoliges for reflections on glass.

The painter's name is Zhang Beixi 張北溪. No date is given but this is a 20th century picture. Here the painter made the fundamental mistake of applying his seal at a 90 degree angle from vertical.

Another work by the same artist is here: http://haili.de/hl/zhxg/zh/0015010100959379868.html?&show=t&num=0015010100959379868&price=415%D4%AA&caption=%u5F20%u5317%u6EAA%uFF0D%u5C71%u6C34

Rat,

Applying a seal with the wrong orientation is relatively easy to do. I was taught to carve my colophon, date, signature, etc on the left hand face of the seal so there is always a quick way to check the orientation of the seal.

Additionally, if the top of the seal stone has a carved animal (dragons are considered animals in this instance), then the animal should be looking back over its spine at the person holding the stone.

Round stone seals are almost impossible to orient correctly, unless the round image is carved from a square stone.

Regards, M.

I agree that some care is required to get the seal orientation correct! It seems an uncommon error though, or at least I can't recall any other example on works I've paid attention to.

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