ATTRIBUTED TO YAN WENGUI (ca. 967-1044)

Travellers in Autumnal Mountains

Footnotes

（款）燕文貴（約967-1044） 秋山行旅 設色絹本 手卷

木盒題字：北宋燕文貴秋山行旅真跡，五十五年丙午（1966），還菴（張伯謹，1897-1988）署

題簽：北宋燕文貴秋山行旅真跡，丙午重裝，還菴署

款識：燕文貴製

鑒藏印：天籟閣、信公秘藏等約九方，漫漶難辨

卷後題跋：畫史記燕文貴於相國寺及玉清昭應宮為壁畫山水人物，又稱其海舶圖大不盈尺，舟如葉，人如麥，檣帆橰櫓，指呼奮踴，能盡其狀。是知其無論巨細，莫不精擅，惟時久遠，傳世之作稀於星鳳。此卷遊春圖，於前人所謂荒村曉月、平江晚雨、竹林暮靄、松溪殘雪之外，別為春光駘蕩之景，亦無不曲盡其妙，誠可寶，重紀。還庵先生得之於海外，出觀囑題，因識數語。己酉（1969）春月，王壯為。
鈐印：墨字、王壯為印、至道無為

Provenance:
Acquired in Japan, 1950-1963
The Tien Yin Tang Collection

Published:
Tien Yin Tang ed. Tien Yin Tang Collection: One Hundred Masterpieces of Chinese Painting Volume 1. Tokyo: Tien Yin Tang, 1963, no. 1.

Laing, Ellen Johnston. Chinese Paintings in Chinese Publications, 1956-1968: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to the Paintings. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1969, p. 55

Cahill, James. An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: Tang, Sung, Yuan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980, p. 195.

來源：
購藏於日本，1950-1963年間
天隱堂舊藏

著錄：
《天隱堂名畫選》第一集，東京：天隱堂，1963年，圖錄編號一

梁莊愛倫（Ellen Johnston Laing）著，《1956-1968年間中文文獻中的中國繪畫：文獻簡注及繪畫索引》（Chinese Paintings in Chinese Publications, 1956-1968: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to the Paintings），安娜堡：密歇根大學出版社，1969年，頁55

高居翰（James Cahill）著，《中國古畫及畫家索引：唐宋元》（An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: Tang, Sung, Yuan），伯克利：加州大學出版社，1980年，頁195


The Tien Yin Tang Collection
天隱堂珍藏

The Tien Yin Tang collection was founded by a prominent diplomat, educator and collector from Xingtang, Hebei. He acquired his Ph. D degree from the Cornell University, then taught at the Yenching University as a professor, and served as an official at the Education Department of the Nationalist government. In 1946, he was appointed the acting mayor of Beijing and in 1949 relocated to Taiwan. From 1950 to 1964, he spent the majority of his time in Japan, representing the government of Taiwan as a diplomat. Upon his return to Taiwan, he served as the Secretary General of the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians' Union.

The Tien Yin Tang collection of classical Chinese painting and calligraphy was established during the collector's time in Japan, and a selection of the works was published in the two-volume catalogs Tien Yin Tang Collection: One Hundred Masterpieces of Chinese Painting. He regarded the publication as a visual preservation of the ancient treasures, many of which were destroyed during times of conflict. The catalogues feature masterpieces by esteemed artists such as Bada Shanren (1626-1705), Wang Hui (1632-1717), Weng Zhengming (1470-1559) and Song dynasty artists. However, as stated in the preface of the catalog, "it is not always the work from the brush of a famous artist, nor the piece of work bearing the signature of a well-known man that arouses my greatest interest...As for judging the qualities of a work,...I still judge their qualities by what I see and how I feel about them."

The inscriber of the colophon of the present lot, Wang Chuang-wei, also born in Hebei Province, was a celebrated seal carver and calligrapher. He participated in the Sino-Japanese war from 1937 to 1945 and resettled in Taiwan in 1949. He worked for National Taiwan Museum, National Palace Museum, the government's Education Department, the presidential office and taught calligraphy and seal carving in universities.

In the same year when the colophon was written, 1969, the painting was listed as a genuine work by Yan Wengui in the Chinese painting index compiled by Ellen Johnston Laing, recent Ph.D. graduate in Chinese art history from the University of Michigan. In 1980, James Cahill included the piece in an updated index and redated it to the Ming dynasty. Seventeen paintings are listed under the entry of "Yen Wen-kuei," but Cahill contents that only Ch'i-Shan Lou-Kuan (Pavilions Among Mountains and Streams) in the collection of the National Palace Museum is a genuine work by the artist.

天隱堂主人為河北行唐人，駐日公使、教育家、收藏家，獲美國康奈爾大學博士學位，曾任北平燕京大學教授，並於民國時期國民政府教育部任多職。1946年，著代理北平市長。1949年，遷居台灣。1950至1965年間，至日本為公使。回台後，於亞洲國會議員聯合會任秘書長。

天隱堂主居日期間，暇時搜尋古字畫，遂有此藏珍。其中百幅精品，被收錄入《天隱堂名畫選》，於其離日前一年付梓。據其所撰《序》言，「惟物聚必有是，紛失焚燬......幸有未紛失或焚燬也，先行付印，公諸同好：俾古人心血，得以流傳而不泯滅」。此圖錄中多有大家如八大山人、王翚、文徵明等之力作，然天隱堂主言及其購藏門檻，謂「顧余之所好，未必作者之必為名人，作品之必有名欵；更不問其時代之遠近，與有無名人之題跋，或曾否見於著錄。真、贗、高、下，悉以吾神之所遇，與心之所許定之。」

卷後題跋者為法書篆刻名家王壯為，本名沅禮，亦為河北人，曾棄藝從戎參與抗戰。1949年後遷台，於國立台灣博物館、台北故宮、教育廳、總統府等機構任職，兼在大學教授書法篆刻。

天隱堂主於歸台五年後著王壯為為本卷題跋，同年，剛於密歇根大學獲中國藝術史博士學位的學者梁莊愛倫出版《1956-1968年間中文文獻中的中國繪畫：文獻簡注及繪畫索引》一書，「燕文貴」條目下列作品六幅，其中一幅便是本拍品。1980年，高居翰出版了更為詳盡的《中國古畫及畫家索引：唐宋元》，「燕文貴」條目下畫作17幅，高氏認為只有台北故宮藏《溪山樓觀》為真跡，本拍品亦列其中，高氏定為明代作品。