Viewing page 8 of 93

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

No. 7.

Purple Eggplants, drawn on paper by Chang Seng Yiu.

[[initialed]] ^[[S.I. V.I.]]

^[[L]] [[strikethrough]] h[[/strikethrough]]. 25" in. w. 14" in.

Chang Seng Yiu of the age of the six dynasties, prefect of the Woo Shing prefecture, ^[[was]] skilled in painting human figures as well as plant life.

This depicts a grove of eggplants worked out in details. Chang was practically the discoverer of plant-life paintings, having originated the special process of painting by first applying the plain "black& white" pen and placing colored powders ^[[on top]] and then finishing up.

Hwang Chuan and Hsu Hsi, two noted Chinese painters in later periods, had copied his method. This being commented by Chao Sung Sui who remarked that Chang Seng Yiu besides being an expert in paintings of Buddhist temples and Buddhas, was skilled in painting plant-life.

This was among the collectionso f the Manchu dynasty and highly admired by the Manchu Emperor Chien Lung whose seal was attached. Through many hands, it has been purchased at a high price.