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Subject:Help identify portrait painting
Posted By: David Tue, May 05, 2015 IP: 166.137.126.113 I found this framed painting. I believe it is done on silk or paper. Any help identifying it and translating the symbols is greatly appreciated. Thank you. |
Subject:Re: Help identify portrait painting
Posted By: Bill H Wed, May 06, 2015 This purports to be a picture of the Late Qing Empress Dowager Cixi, but authentication of its age is needed. The inscription reads down and across from the left in two stacks as "Empress Dowager Cixi, Painted in the first lunar month of the bingyin year", followed by a red seal reading from the left as "Gongshi" (慈禧太后, 丙寅年盂春月筆, [公使] - Ci-xi Tai-hou, Bing yin nian yu chun yue bi, [Gong-shi]). |
Subject:Re: Help identify portrait painting
Posted By: rat Wed, May 06, 2015 This is a relatively youthful Cixi, the empress dowager (per the column of text on the right), likely painted in recent years from a old photograph, though most photos of her show an older rather than middle-aged woman. The painting is dated as spring of the bingyin year, which equates to either 1866 during Cixi's lifetime, soon after she began wielding power (if the artist's idea is to pretend this was painted from life), or 1986 if it is meant to be a plausible date when the artist may have actually painted the picture. |
Subject:Re: Help identify portrait painting
Posted By: Bill H Wed, May 06, 2015 Just a P.S. to my earlier posting. This photograph (link) seems to be the basis for the one in your picture. Unfortunately, the article doesn't give a date for it. Perhaps you can use it to help find a dated one. |
Subject:Re: Help identify portrait painting
Posted By: David Thu, May 07, 2015 Thank you very much for your help. I researched the photograph...but found nothing to indicate when it was taken. |
Subject:Re: Help identify portrait painting
Posted By: rat Fri, May 08, 2015 David, there is zero chance your painting dates from 1866. Don't waste money pursuing that belief. There's plenty of genuine Chinese art on the market at reasonable prices that's more than 1,000 years old (but no paintings) if that is what appeals to you. |
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