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Hi, I have recently acquired a bound book of six chinese watercolors.
Five of the paintings are of different types of birds and one is a still life of flowers in a vase.
I have pictured the caligraphy page and one of the birds with the seal mark.
The image size is 21x23.5cm.
There is a notation in the book faintly written in pencil - it reads "51 year of the reign of Emperor K'ang Hsi,about 1740".
Also in pencil is wrtten that the artists name is Yang and another date of 1700.
I am curious if any of the knowledgeable forum members believe these paintings to actually be of the age stated and also if you could let me know more details from the translation of the caligraphy.
Thanks and Regards,Ken.

could be. the painter isn't an expert but reasonably good. compare this leaf from a similar Chen Hongshou album currently on view in the Metropolitan Museum (http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsxs09g17F1qc6wuio1_500.jpg)

1712 actually, not 1740, which would be into the Qianlong reign. the inscription is dated to seven days before mid-autumn 1712 by a Chen Bai-somebody, friend of the painter, who compares Yang's style to several well known painters from previous dynasties. I will look the painter up tomorrow when I get a chance. Meanwhile, please post photos of the other images, it will help tie them to the comments in the inscription.

My skepticism detector is sounding off. According to the seals, the artist is supposed to be Yang Kun, a high ranking military official who was posted in southern China at this time. Yang Kun was not known as an artist, however, and is not listed in one of the more comprehensive lists of Qing artists I have, so until I see other works by a Yang Kun working during the Kangxi era I think you either have something genuine and obscure (possible but not probable) or by a famous general not known to have painted (not likely). Am curious to know who Chen is (didn't turn anything up on him) and what the other paintings look like.

Thankyou Rat for your responses.
It sounds as if these paintings could be quite intriguing.
On closer inspection there are actually 7 paintings and they don't all have the same seal.
I will post further pics and their respective seals.
These two pics show the only other painting with the same seal as the first one posted.
I have also shown an image of the binder cover which is in quite poor condition.
Most of the paintings have some foxing and some with a few stains although luckily this is mostly restricted to the margins.

These two paintings have a different seal.
The mark is not so clear unfortunately.

These two paintings both have the seal as in pic 3

This is the last painting and to my untrained eye looks the most amateurish.
Seal also pictured.

In case it's of importance these are the seals from the caligraphy page.

Thanks so much for the remaining pictures and seal images. I feel that the paintings are considerably more recent than Kangxi and that the inscription is a separate item; the two were brought together by some owner or dealer along the way. This is for two primary reasons: because the content of the inscription does not relate to the content of the paintings, and because the style of the paintings seems to me quite different from anything I know from the Kangxi period. The inscription says that the writer's friend, the painter Yang, paints things using contour lines like Song painter Li Gonglin, figures like Song painter Su Hanchen and Ming painter Zhou Zhimian, flowers and grasses like Song painter Huichong, and aquatic life like some painter whose name I don't recognize off the top of my head. Yet your paintings are all of birds, which go unmentioned by Chen.

The painting style seems more consistent with early to mid 20th century (and even with Japanese) painting styles than with anything I know from the Kangxi period. While they are quite attractive and done by a decent painter, I can't see how to place them in the early 1700s.

Would be interested to hear what others think.

Having reread what I wrote and looked for Kangxi images of birds I feel that I may sound too harsh. Some of the birds relate fairly well to other examples from around that time (the first picture you posted in particular), but I tend to be rather skeptical. I think it is safe to dismiss any connection with Yang Kun the military man though.

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