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Hello!

I’d love to get some insight on this scroll. I do not believe it is as old as it claims but I have been attempting to find the artist and accurately identify the imperial and collector’s seals regardless. It had a tag on it that read “Yan Hui” (Yan Hui, Chinese, active c. 1300-1400) and it does appear to be signed “Made by Yan Hui” in part of the calligraphy. However, I found a seal that I also think matches Wu Wei (Xiao Xian, 1459-1508) and Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322) who are also artists so I am unsure. I have copied down all of the information I have been able to locate thus far.

I attached some photos but you can view many more with higher resolution by following the Google Drive link. Any help on identifying the actual artist or any insight on the work itself is very appreciated. Thank you!

SEAL A: seal stamp belonging to the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, known as the "Treasure of the Emperor in His Seventies"

SEAL B: Catalogue of the Imperial Collection of Painting and Calligraphy. Catalogued in Shiqu Baoji, which was formerly in the collection of Emperor Qianlong

SEAL F: Xiang Yuanbian (a prominent Ming dynasty collector and connoisseur of paintings and calligraphies) Collectorn Seal "Tianlai Ge"

SEAL K: Seal Emperor Guxi mark

SEAL L: Zhao Mengfu's seal "Zhao Shi Zi Ang".

SEAL M: Zhao Mengfu again??

SEAL N: Emperor Qianlong's Appreciation

SEAL P: The Sanxitang Fine Appraisal Seal.

SEAL Q: Cheng Yuan's (selected copy) seal engraving "May Your Descendants Prosper".

SEAL R: Possibly Shiqu Baoji Collection seal

SEAL S: Wu Wei (Xiao Xian) ca. 1459–1508) Ming Dynasty

SEAL T: Pang Yuanji's Seal Engravings (Xu Zhai 's Appreciation).

SEAL V: Xiang Yuanbian's seals in "Mo Lin"








Link :Link to Better Photos of Scroll (Calligraphy and Seals)

Too many seals always raise suspicion.
Here’s a little extra information to help you interpret collector’s seals.

H (Upside down)、
戴芝農鍳章　Dai Zhinong's Seal
Zhinong was the pseudonym of Dai Zhi 戴植、collector during the Qing Dynasty

I.
也園圍氏収蔵書画　
Collection of calligraphy and paintings of Mr. Ye Yuanwei　　-　Unidentifiable

J,
嘉慶御覧之寶　Treasure of Jiaqing Emperor's Inspection

M,
壽　Longevity

O,
顔輝　Yan Hui

W,
夢園鑑賞　Mengyuan's Appreciation
Mengyuan was the pseudonym of Fang Junyi 方濬頣
1815-1889　
a bibliophile and connoisseur of calligraphy and painting from Dingyuan, Anhui Province, during the Daoguang and Xianfeng periods of the Qing Dynasty.

X,
項子京家珍蔵　Xiang Ziji's Family Collection
- used by Xiang Yuanbian
　
Regards,
I.Nagy

Hi Chelsea,

Nice work gathering and displaying all the images of the seals etc. You and I. Nagy are right, this is a recent scroll, but it is intended to be interpreted as by Yan Hui, whose "signature" is at upper right. The Zhao Mengfu and Wu Wei seals are appended to two of the colophons that are supposedly by them; there's also one supposedly by Ming painter/calligrapher Wen Zhengming, so his seal should be third from the bottom in the left corner. None of the calligraphy in in the hand of those to whom it is attributed though. Stylistically the picture looks akin to "Shanghai School" pictures (a catchall category alas) from the later 19th/early 20th century, but the seals look close to the originals they are mimicking, so I am assuming they are reproduced pretty recently from images of the originals (but with the nice touch of using differently colored inks; often they are all the same tone ink even though they were supposedly applied over a matter of centuries). The general pattern of wear on the picture surface is artificial distress of a sort that started showing up in the late 1980s/early 1990s and continues today, so that's about as early as I would date it. No way to know who the actual painter was, but I find the figures quite engaging!

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