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The Six Worthies of the Bamboo Stream
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recto overall

The Six Worthies of the Bamboo Stream

Original Language Title竹溪六逸
Former TitleHermits in Bamboo Grove
Attributed to（傳) Jin Tingbiao 金廷標 (Chinese, died 1767)
DateQianlong period (1736-1795)
MediumHandscroll; ink and color on silk
DimensionsOverall: 15 1/4 × 48 1/4 inches (38.74 × 122.56 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number31-135/31
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionGroup of men playing chess at the edge of a bamboo forest, one man cools his feet in a stream.Exhibition History

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, Nelson-Gallery Atkins Museum, Kansas City, November 7, 1980 – January 4, 1981; The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 11 – March 29, 1982, no. 263.

The Elegant Brush: Chinese Painting under the Qianlong Emperor, 1735-1795, Phoenix Art Museum. August 25-October 6, 1985; Santa Barbara [CA] Museum of Art, February 8-March 23, 1986; Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 13-August 13, 1986, no. 11.

Emperors, Scholars and Temples: Tastemakers of China’s Ming and Qing Dynasties, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, August 12, 2016 – July 9, 2017.

Gallery Label
The Qianlong Emperor, an ardent lover of art, recruited many painters to his court. One of the emperor’s favorite painters, Jin Tingbiao, created this painting depicting the gathering of six eccentric scholars in bold brushwork. The emperor was known for his pervasive use of seals on his huge collection of paintings. This scroll bears 13 of the emperor’s collection seals, including three large seals generously impressed on the margin to the right of the painting. The number of seals, however, does not guarantee the rarity of the work. This painting is one of several copies likely created by Jin’s followers.
Provenance

Celestin Liu;

Purchased from Celestin Liu by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.

Published References

Shiqu baoji xubian [Catalogue of painting and calligraphy in the imperial collection: sequel (part II), Qianqing Gong, Wang Jie, et al. commissioned by the Qianlong emperor, 1791, completed 1793. Facsimile reprint. (Taipei: 1969), 325.

Hu Jing, Guochao yuanhualu, 1816. Ch. 11, p. 325.

Wai-Kam Ho, et al., Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art. (The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, c1980), 357, no. 263 (repro.).

Ju-hsi Chou and Claudia Brown. The Elegant Brush: Chinese Painting under the Qianlong Emperor, 1735-1795 (Phoenix Art Museum. Published with assistance from The J. Paul Getty Trust and AT&T, 1985), 50, no. 11 (repro.).




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