After Jiang Tingxi (1669-1732) Chinese, (4) Ink and Paper "Bamboo and Plum" Scrolls. Each of the four sheets is colorfully illustrated with people and animals surrounded by trees and nature, with significant kanji on each one, including two major blocks of poetry. Blank white space on the back of each sheet. A felt box they roll up to fit into has the artist name and title on it in kanji. This is a painstakingly careful reproduction of the original panels first created by the artist nearly three hundred years ago. Non-hanging. 

Size: 19 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. 

#6318 . 

Jiang Tingxi (also spelled Chiang T’ing-hsi) was born in 1669 in Changshu, Jiangsu, an eastern coastal area of China. Besides the name Yangsun, he was also known by his courtesy name Youjun, as well as writing under the pseudonyms Nansha, Qingtong Jushi, Qiujun, and XiGu. A polymath who showed early intellectual prowess, he rose quickly in the ranks of the government and artistic circles of Chinese culture of the time. His most important contribution was the 5,020 volume long state-sponsored encyclopedia “Complete Classics Collection of Ancient Chinese Literature” that he published in 1726 along with Chen Menglei during the reigns of the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors in the Qing Dynasty. As an official painter to the imperial court Jiang used a wide variety of artistic styles, and focused particularly on paintings of birds and flowers. He was also proficient in calligraphy and his combination of imagery and poetry influenced later court painters, including Yu Sheng and Yu Zhi. Jiang also contributed to the compilation of the “Daqing Yitongzhi” (“Gazetteer of the Qing Empire”). This geographical gazetteer was one of the longest running in Chinese history to that time, responsible for liberal changes in land policy reforms in his lifetime, and was provided with a preface in 1744 (more than a decade after Jiang’s death), revised in 1764, and reprinted in 1849. As part of his cultural contributions he oversaw all activity at the Wenyuan Library as the Grand Secretary starting in 1728. As a holder of the Jinshi status he performed important duties in the Qing government’s Office of Military Finance, serving from 1726 to 1732 in a capacity on par with Zhang Tingyu (headed by Yinxiang, the Yongzheng Emperor’s brother), and acted as the Grand Councillor to the Qing Emperor starting in 1729. He died in 1732 in Beijing, and his original poems and art such as “Bamboo and Plum” and “Notes on the Mosquito” continue to have an impact on modern Chinese writers and painters.