Fungi and Bats | Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1968.71
People: Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧, Chinese (1835 - 1908)
Title: Fungi and Bats
Classification: Paintings
Work Type: hanging scroll, painting
Date: 1898
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period: Qing dynasty, 1644-1911
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/202978

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper, with large red square relief seal of the artist reading "Cixi Huangtaihou zhi bao" (Treasure of the Empress Dowager Cixi)

Dimensions

painting proper: H. 132.1 x W. 63.5 cm (52 x 25 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

seal: Large red square relief seal of the artist located at top center: Ci Xi Huang Tai Hou Zhi Bao" (Treasure of the Empress Dowager Cixi)
inscription: Inscription 1 at upper left; inscription 2 at lower right: Two inscriptions:
1) Guangxu wuxu mengdong shanghuan yubi (Translation: [A work by the] imperial brush [done on] the first ten days of the first winter month of the 'wuxu' year of the Guangxu reign period [1898])
2) A three-line inscription by Zhang Hengjia

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History: Ex-Collection: Senator Theodore Francis Green, Rhode Island

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Asian Art Objects Fund
Accession Year: 1968
Object Number: 1968.71
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions: The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

Claudia Brown and Ju-hsi Chou, Transcending Turmoil: Painting at the Close of China's Empire 1796-1911, exh. cat., Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, Arizona, 1992), p. 37, cat. no. 8 (illustrated on p. 12)
Claudia Brown, Great Qing: Painting in China, 1644-1911, University of Washington Press (Seattle and London, 2014), pp. 148-149, fig. 5.21

Exhibition History

Women and the Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/10/1994 - 03/05/1995
Rocks, Mountains, Landscapes, and Gardens: The Essence of East Asian Painting (1997), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/15/1997 - 09/21/1997

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

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1968.71: Fungi and Bats