A large Chinese painting in ink and pigments on silk. The composition depicts a stag and doe beneath an aged pine tree, with a monkey seated among the branches above. Flowering plants, grasses, bamboo, and rockwork complete the scene.
The inscription on the right “In mid-spring of the bingyin year of the Qianlong reign, painted in imitation of the brush manner of the Song masters. Painted by Shen Quan, the Recluse Nanpin,” bears the name of Shen Quan*, called Shen Nanpin (1682/83-c.1760), and a date corresponding to 1746. The work is considered a later interpretation of a composition associated with the artist rather than an original 18th-century painting. Preserved in good antique condition, the textile showcases losses on the edges, and signs of natural aging. Newly framed under glass.
*Shen Quan was a Qing-dynasty painter particularly associated with detailed paintings of birds, flowers and animals. He travelled to Nagasaki from 1731 to 1733, where his work had a lasting influence on Japanese painting and gave rise to the Nanpin school.
