Fan page of Chen Hongshou’s figure

[Fan page of Chen Hongshou’s figure map]

Fan page of the figure map, Ming Dynasty, Chen Hongshou’s painting, gold paper, ink pen, 16.5cm in length and 52.2cm in width
The fan page has its own title: “In August of the third birthday, the son-in-law Chen Hongshou wrote and sent it to Cha An Weng’s father-in-law as a birthday gift.” The seal is “Chen Hongshou’s seal” and the white seal
“Bingchen” is the forty-fourth year of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1616), when Chen Hongshou was 19 years old
This picture is a birthday picture drawn by the author for the 50th birthday of his father-in-law, Laisi (1567-1634). Lai Shi used to be the chief of the Ministry of Industry. He was wild, well-read and rich in collection. He had a great influence on Chen Hongshou’s artistic accomplishment and the formation of his outlook on life, and also helped Chen Hongshou to meet many high-level figures and broaden his horizons later. The strong man in red robes walking among the auspicious clouds in the picture should be the embodiment of Lai Shi. This painting is a masterpiece of the author’s early meticulous heavy color figure painting, which is similar to the painting style of “Nine Songs Painting” painted in the same year. Chen Hongshou’s figure paintings in his early years were most influenced by Li Gonglin of the Song Dynasty. The strokes were round with square in the middle, and the figures were mostly drawn with hairline and wire drawing, which were vivid and interesting