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Hi,
I inherited this screen of the peach man. Its one of my favorites. I really dont know anything about this screen and am hoping someone can help with the translation or any information regarding this piece..


Thanks,
Jeff

Link :Pictures

Ive added some additional pics to the folder that show better resolution of the script and also the weave pattern.

I was reading on some of the other threads that you can tell by the weave pattern if the silk was machine made or hand made and can more closely approximate the era

Thanks again
Jeff

Nice picture, signed as being painted by Hu Qiubi, a Ming painter from Zhejiang province, imitating the style, he says, of Louguan, an early Daoist figure. Can you post details of the figure? I will look for more information on the painter in the next few days when I have a chance.

Rat,
Thank you for your time and knowledge.
Ill take some more pictures on Friday and add them to the album.

Are there particular aspects that you would like to see closeups of?

Thanks,
Jeff

Thanks Jeff, in addition to a close up of the seal impression (maybe put a filter on or enhance the contrast with the silk somehow), I am curious to see details of the head, the interior of the basket/hat on his back (though there is no strap for it across his chest?), perhaps the modeling of the peach, his foot, the drapery of the garments (for the quality of the brushstrokes used). I have poked around a bit, but the biographical data I have seen online about him repeats that in the standard printed reference: he also went by the nickname Xing (also pronounced Hang, not sure which to use here) in lieu of his given name Qiubi, that he was from a place in Zhejiang Province called Haiyan. In painting he was known for historical and religious figures/divinities, like yours.

Herbert Giles translates the only anecdote about him here (using his own romanization for the artist's name Hu Ch'iu-pi, rather than the PRC romanization I have used):
http://books.google.com/books?id=lXEwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=Hu+Ch%27iu-pi&source=bl&ots=fMDkiCX8RN&sig=7Ge9B5BwAmBRhjeOsRnY5J-hFjE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=APkJVMLHNc-eyATz2oGQCQ&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Hu%20Ch'iu-pi&f=false

How accurate the story may be I don't know. China was not foreigner-friendly during some parts of the Ming period. The biographical source only lists him as a Ming painter without further specifics. On the other hand, Zhejiang is a coastal province facing towards Japan, so who can say for sure?

As to authenticity of the scroll, I am not familiar with this painter and don't see any other images of his work online. Yours seems in quite good condition for a Ming painting, so that concerns me a bit though perhaps your next photos will more closely indicate its condition. It's possible that it is indeed a genuine painting by Hu, as inscribed. Not seeing any genuine works to compare it to or knowing that there are forgeries of this painter out there, I can't rule it in or out for sure, though forgers were known to pick obscure painters from the standard biography of artists to forge on the assumption that no one else had ever seen an actual work by the painter in question. Even so, you may have something very uncommon on your hands even though it's not a tour de force. Perhaps it could even be one of the scrolls the Japanese so liked. The additional photos may help.

Rat,
I have added additional pictures to the folder that show closer details of the figure

Thank you again
Jeff

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