Antiques, Collectibles and Fine Art Auction
Lot 123:
2 Vol. Chengdu Shibeijia Poetry-Stationery Album, Zheng Boying (ed.)
Description
Chinese, 1945 Chengdu Shibeijia Poetry-Stationery Album
Zheng Boying (ed.), Shibeijia, Chengdu, ca. Republic 34 [1945], 2 vols. in 1 case, colour woodblock printing.
Two thread-bound volumes (stitched in the traditional Chinese xianzhuang style), in the original patterned silk-covered slipcase with applied paper title label, inscribed and signed by the noted calligrapher Shen Yinmo, with his red seal. Each inner volume in original blue paper wrappers with separate title strips reading, inscribed by Zhao Xi, also bearing his seal.
Compiled and edited by Zheng Boying, proprietor of the Chengdu workshop Shibeijia, and printed by Shibeijia in Chengdu in the Republican period, this is the celebrated poetry-stationery album first issued in 1943 and here in the later issue generally attributed to Republic 34 (1945), with Shen Yinmo’s new slipcase title.
Large 8vo (approx. 29 × 18 cm). On double leaves, printed throughout in multi-colour woodblock, showing over one hundred designs for decorative poetry paper and letter paper. The album brings together works by many leading late-Qing and Republican artists and calligraphers, including (among others) Zhao Zhiqian, Chen Banding, Chen Hengke, Zhang Daqian, Huang Junbi, Qi Baishi, Guan Shanyue, and others, alongside earlier models.
Opening leaves with title by Yu Youren (于右任) and preface by Xie Wuliang; later leaves carry the individual artists’ inscriptions and seals, together with the Shibeijia publisher’s seal. The work is widely regarded as one of the finest Republican-period colour woodblock stationery albums, conceived in conscious dialogue with earlier classics such as Shizhu zhai jianpu and the Rongbaozhai albums. Contemporary sources note that the first edition of 1943 and the reprint of 1945 were each limited to 500 numbered sets, making complete sets in original case relatively scarce.
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