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I am limited to only 3 photos, so I will post additional photos over the next couple of days.
The photos I am posting now show 1 of the 10 paintings and each of the 2 seals.

I bought this set of 10 paintings, all of which were finely framed (museum/gallery framing).

Once removed, I found that the paintings are all mounted in folios. Painted area of each measures 10" tall x 8.25" wide.

Of the 10 paintings, 3 have seals, 2 seals are identical, the other appears to read Qianlong, but I do not know if I have translated it correctly.

Each painting has 3 characters, the first character is the same in every painting - Title?

I am thinking that the 2 seals that match are of the artist. Can anyone help with the ID of the artist?

Thank you!

more photos....

some more photos...

last of the photos...

these look potentially interesting, all labeled with the name of a different palace building. am out of the country but will look into them further when I get back.

Thank you, Rat. Travel safely and I look forward to your expertise.

Also, I just acquired 2 gold leaf calligraphy fan paintings. I will post photos of one painting today and the other in a few days. I hope you can help with an artist identification with these as well.

The writing is small in the first fan painting, so please tell me if you need larger photos and I will do my best.

This is not a Ming but a Qing fan, late Qing actually, probably second half 19th century. I don't recognize the text but that's because I don't know much. A native Chinese speaker may recognize it. The calligraphy isn't so good despite/because of the miniature size and I think the gold made it hard for the ink to be absorbed as readily as paper or silk would. I can't read the seal but the signature seems to be of a Qian Lu 錢禄, not to be confused with a 20th century fan painter named Qian Luxin 錢禄新. Will see if I can find any details on a calligrapher by this name tomorrow.

Dear Rat, Thank you! I actually bought 2 fan paintings from the same estate.

The characters are larger, so it should be easier to read than the prior fan.

I am quite curious to know what the fans say, but perhaps if it is an unknown artist, it is not of much importance. I will await your response.

Thank you as always.

Progress. The calligrapher's name is actually 錢禄書, Qian Lushu. (The "shu" character means "to write calligraphy" (as well as "book")), so I didn't interpret the 書 as part of the guy's name until I found it that way. The seal also makes sense, even though I can only read the half of it that matches the first half of his nickname, 琴琛 Qinchen (which also appears in the inscription). Supposedly a competent calligrapher and a good painter, hometown was part of present day Suzhou. Unfortunately there's no reference to when he was active.

Thank you, Rat!

So if I understand you correctly, Qian Lushu (aka Qinchen)is an obscure, but fairly good calligrapher from the late 19th c.

Do you think that searching this artist's name through some classical Chinese poetry books would turn anything up? Perhaps he is better know for his literary writings than for his artist/calligraphic abilities.

I have a second fan painting I bought along with this one....I've posted the photos. Same artist, or someone else?

Thanks!
Tim

good idea. I seem to think he was listed as author either of an anthology of poems or a book of his own poems. Will look again to see the title. The trick will lie in locating a copy.

Qian is the author of 小辋川馆诗集, but a Google search doesn't offer any hits on that title (there's a similar title that drops the 馆 character but it is authored by someone else).

here's a few more photos....

Last one.

I had read that this style of gold leaf with calligraphy was popular in the Ming dynasty. It appears that there has been several exhibitions in the last 2 years.

I know that it was last framed in the 1980's - the gallery is close to my home and they confirmed when the time it was framed.

Also, the silk background (folio) has a mat line around the edges that is not consistent with the frame, so it was definitely framed prior to the current frame.

The first seal you've posted above I read as Du Ling 杜陵, but I found no painter by that name, and the one guy who uses Du Ling as part of one of his nicknames painted in entirely different subject matter in an entirely different style， so maybe I am misreading the seal. As I am not sure what the reading is of the first character of the second seal you posted, I'm not getting anywhere with that either.

Rat,

I thought I had posted the 2nd fan I bought. I do't see it, so I'm posting photos again. What are your thoughts?

this is dated midsummer bingzi year, which equates to 1876, or less likely to 1936. The writer is Pan Someone-wei, can't tell from the signature or the seal.

The text is a poem written in 1826 by Gong Zizhen (1792-1841): 异人延年无异方，能使寸田生异香；食古欲醉醉欲狂，娱魂快意宜文章，以代参术百倍强。秦君耄矣弗荒，何心明我长毋忘？我拓古文璆琳瑯，熏以桂椒袭以缃，楮精墨匀週豪芒，原君自发君吉阳。获燕三喙芝三英, 慈鬘箸録客亦商；客其谁欤有郑堂，同声念我北斗傍。[YOUR FAN ENDS HERE] 桂树珑玲白昼长，园亭清夏巵酒黄；如作器者言词良，长生长乐乐中央." (Source: http://www.bokeyz.com/user1/sfttz/227191.html)

handwriting seems ok, nothing special.

Thank you!

I tried to translate the pinyin on Google...did not work out so well. Still, great information overall.

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