593 Zhou Fang (after) "Court ladies wearing flower headdresses". Rong Bao Zhai, Beijing. 1954/ 1955.
Zhou Fang um 740 Chang'an (Xian) – um 800 ?
Otto Grotewohl 1894 Braunschweig – 1964 Ost-Berlin
Rong Bao Zhai 1672 Peking
Wood cut in colours, ink and gold on silk. In the original, elaborately designed wooden box with silk padding as well as the original cardboard box.
Provenance: Otto Grotewohl estate, diplomatic gift from the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai on the occasion of his visit to the GDR in 1954 and on the occasion of Otto Grotewohl's state visit to Beijing in 1955.
The original painting by Zhou Fang, from which Rong Bao Zhai made the present woodblock print,
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is now preserved as a national cultural heritage in the Liaoning Provincial Museum. Zhou Fang's painting impressively demonstrates the artist's extraordinary ability to transfer the spirit of the sitter into pictorial form under close observation of the personalities. He was considered an outstanding figure painter of his time with an excellent sense of colour and harmonious composition.
Since they were first produced in the early 1950s, the coveted editions of the Beijing publishing house Rong Boa Zhai, which still exists today, have been presented as diplomatic gifts to personalities such as Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, or Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State of the United States, by President Mao Zedong and Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, among others.
The woodblock prints were and are only produced in a few copies due to the lengthy production process and the scarcity of materials.
In this reproduction, Rong Bao Zhai has succeeded in preserving the fine lines and bright colours of the original – the skills of the publisher have become a symbol of Chinese national pride.
As a timeless tribute to the Tang dynasty, the woodblock print "Court Ladies, Wearing Flower Headdresses" is of great significance. While Zhou Fang aimed for a naturalistic depiction of the five noble ladies, a maid with two small dogs and a crane, the artists of Rong Bao Zhai did not strive for a lifelike interpretation of the ladies, but for a truthful reproduction of the original
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Area of depiction above and below inconspicuously spotted, with two diagonally running dark stripes in the centre. Wooden box minimally scratched, top of lid with two tiny pressure marks, inconspicuous overall impression. Silk cover of the inside lid very slightly soiled. Cardboard box superficially rubbed in places, inside with individual brownish spots. Bookmark broken.
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H. 52,5 cm, L. gesamt 979,6 cm / Frontispiz 130,2 cm / Bild 188,1 cm, Kassette 11,5 x 58,5 x 11,5 cm.
