Four Album Leaves

Ch'a Shih-piao, who came from Haiyang, Anhui, was a connoisseur with a famous family collection who devoted himself to painting and writing after 1644, at the beginning of the Ch'ing dynasty. These album leaves, all showing river landscapes, are good examples of his work, and represent the eclecticism of early Ch'ing painting. The Ashmolean has a fine collection of 19th and 20th-century Chinese painting, and is anxious to extend it to the 17th and 18th centuries. This was a rare opportunity to acquire work by this painter, which is well represented in museums but seldom appears on the market.