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Told this was by Dingzhi or Gu An. Does a reproduction have any value.

Dingzhi, as this picture is signed, is a pen name that Gu An used: they are the same guy. Reproductions have little commercial value unless they are paintings that no longer exist or are not published. I don't see this painting pop up online though, so that may be a good sign. Cahill's Index may list it though. Can you show a close up of the inscriptions?

Thanks for the help. I haven't spotted this picture either.

Thanks for the help.

I'm still missing 1 character, could you post a full picture for more context, or a sharper picture?

These are collector's seals, stamped when acquired or viewed. From top to bottom:

諄

敬

張珩私印 Seal of Zhang Heng (1914—1963)

茝林曾觀 Viewed by Chailin (1775—1849)

吳山草堂 Thatched cottage of Wushan (pseudonym of a collector Wu Ren, before 1694—unknown)

Nicely done, what are you missing? the last bit of the artist's seal reading 定之? I'm wondering about that too. The Zhang Heng seal confirms that this is the Cincinnati Museum's picture, I hadn't looked at these yet.

Ah, got it: I think you have misread the initial seal 譚 as 諄, which when paired with 敬 reads Tan Jing (1911-1991), who aside from his fame for forgeries was pals with Zheng Zhenduo, who is credited as author of Zhang Heng's catalog, in which this picture appears.

Somewhat confused. So are you saying I have a nice reproduction by a famous forger?

Thanks

Sorry to create confusion, but no, you have a reproduction of a good quality painting by Gu An in the Cincinnati Museum of Art. It was previously owned by the Shanghai collector Zhang Heng, but Tan Jing's seals on it suggest that Tan acquired it from Zhang before it went to the Cincinnati Museum. (The Chinese catalog is a catalog of Zhang's collection; the German catalog seems to be of items from US museums, so presumably it was in the Cincinnati collection before being shown in Germany in 1959.) Tan would not have put his seals on a forgery he was responsible for. (One example of the forgeries he oversaw production of is another picture in the Cincinnati Museum of Art that is a tracing copy of "Twin Pines, Level Distance" a painting by Zhao Mengfu in the Metropolitan Museum.)

Once again I owe you much thanks. Your helpfulness has gone far beyond anything I would hope to expect. You have shared your knowledge and that gift is most appreciated.

Thank you
Steve

My pleasure, enjoy the picture!

Hate to be that person. But I have to ask. Is there any monetary value.

Also had to show you what I hope will be next purchase.

to me and perhaps to those interested in traditional Chinese painting there would be value in this picture simply because this image is not readily available from any other source and yours seems to be a high quality reproduction, but it remains a reproduction, so perhaps several hundred dollars

the woodblock print seems 20th century Japanese, but not a subject I know anything about

Thank you

By process of elimination I think I have found it in Cahill's index, as I can account for or rule out all other works by Gu that he accepts but one, which I expect is yours: a "Single stem of bamboo. Signed. Two inscriptions." It is in the collection of the Cincinnati Museum of Art, but they have not made their collection available to search online. He notes that it was published in two sources: "1000 Jahre Chinesische Malerei", Exhibition at Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1959 (you can find copies online); and in the collection of Chang Heng 张珩 (Ts'ung-yu 縂玉): 韞辉齋藏唐宋以来名画集, Shanghai 1948.

Thanks so much for all your effort. You've gone above and beyond anyone would expect.

So from this I can assume that there is little monetary value in the reproduction.

Looks great on the wall. Still believe it to be special and even more so because of the efforts you put in.

Thanks again.

my pleasure, great to see some good quality art here!

rat

You were right on it. Found it in Cincinatti.

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