Adam's FINE ASIAN ART Part 1 June 29th 2021

30 N otes : 1 . Giuseppe Castiglione was an Italian Jesuit brother and missionary in Chi- na, where he served as an artist at the imperial court of three emperors - the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. He painted in a style that is a fusion of European and Chinese traditions. 2. The hounds have been identified thanks to the “Album of the Ten-Prized Dogs” ( 十骏犬图 ), an imperial-commissioned work by the above-mentioned painter housed in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. 3 . The long calligraphy may be roughly read as follows: “Who said that the dogs are only used to bark, while the painter can portray various postures of the dogs, such as running, skipping etc. as they are really fascinating. Written by the Emperor Qianlong in early August 1744”. 4 . The seals, five in total, may be roughly read as follows: a) “Five blessings in five Dynasties”. This seal belongs to Emperor Qianlong aged 70; b) “Shi-Qu”. This is the name of a book with many famous paintings, cal- ligraphies and others; c) “Shi-Qu”. The second volume of this book; d) “Yang Xin Hall”. This painting was collected in that peculiar hall within the Forbidden City; e) “The Emperor will benefit his sons and grand-sons”; 5 . We did match three of the seals with the ones listed in BEURDELEY, Cecile and Michel. “Giuseppe Castiglione A Jesuit Painter at the Court of the Chinese Emperors”. Lund Humphries London: 1972, pp. 192-193: a) nr. 6:, “Wu-fu-wu-tai-t’ang ku-hsi t’ien-tzu pao”, Treasure of the aged Son of Heaven in the Hall of the Five Happiness and the Five Generations; b) nr. 14: “San-hsi-t’ang chieng-sien hsi”, Seal of the Hall of the Three Rar- ities; c) nr. 28: “Yang-hsin-tien chien ts’ang pao”, Treasure of the palace of Cul- tivating Hearts. 6 . Juan Carlos Katzenstein probably acquired or was offered this impor- tant painting while living in China. He and his family attached a great im- portance to this scroll and did study it thoroughly. They did present it to different scholars and even managed to have it both the poem and the seals translated into English. This painting is offered at auction with a documen- tation including notably (but not only) the book “Giuseppe Castiglione a Jesuit Painter at the Court of the Chinese Emperors” by Michel Beurdeley as well as as a few letters and envelopes, one adressed to “Castellgatto II”, the residency of Juan Carlos Katzenstein while in Italy.