Beschreibung:

ANONYMOUS (15TH-16TH CENTURY) PORTRAITS OF ANCIENT KINGS AND SAGES A set of ten albums, each with ten to thirteen portraits of ancient emperors or sages, ink and colour on paper Various sizes Each painted leaf with a corresponding colophon Each album with one to two collector's seal of the Wanli Emperor (reigned 1573-1619): Wan Li Yu Shang Zhi Bao The first album with a lenghty colophon by Pan Luan (16th century), dated autumn, jiashen , twelfth year of the Wanli era (1584) Note: 1. These ten albums of portraits were in the collection of the Ming imperial court. Each album contains between ten to thirteen portraits, and the ten albums contain a total of one hundred and twelve portraits. According to the inscription by Pan Luan in the first album, copying an earlier inscription by Zhang Hong (14th-15th century) which was dated in the third year, wuwu , of the Zhengtong era (1438), the portraits were first painted and put together in a scroll as a historical record. These images were subsequently incised into stone tablets in Gusu (Suzhou) in the xinyou year (1441). Pan Luan also copied the inscription to the stone carvings of these portraits, recording that the number of portraits increased much since the Zhengtong era. Portraits of emperors started from Fuxi running down to the first Yuan emperor, and portraits of officials started from Cangjie to sages and officials of the Song and Yuan dynasties. The aim of the albums and the carvings was of a didactic nature, recording the meritorious acts and deeds of these wise men of the past 2. Both Zhang Hong and Pan Luan were Ming court officials. Pan, in particular, had written a book entitled Junchen Tujian (Portraits of Emperors and Sages). For brief biographies of both Zhang Hong and Pan Luen, see Zhongguo Meishujia Renming Cidian , Shanghai Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, 1981, pp. 838 and 1355; Zhongguo Lidai Renming Dacidian , Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 1999, pp. 1225 and 2520 respectively (10)