Description

Chinese framed painting of a pair of birds on a branch by the famous 20th century artist, 张爰 Zhang Yuan. This is the original name of the painter also know as Chang Dai-chien or Zhang Da-qian. Chang Dai-chien or Zhang Daqian (1899 – 1983) was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century. Originally known as a traditionalist painter, by the 1960s he was also renowned as a modern impressionist and expressionist painter. When he was young, Zhang Yuan was captured by bandits and held for ransom. When the bandit chief ordered him to write a letter home demanding a ransom, he was so impressed by the boy’s brushmanship that he made the boy his personal secretary. During the more than three months that he was held captive, he read books of poetry which the bandits had looted from raided homes. When he was grown, he lived in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, California and Taiwan. While living in Carmel, California in the 1960’s he became popular, having his first solo exhibition at Stanford University.

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Here there’s a seal at the upper right that says: 大千 Daqian and the signature slightly overlapping it is 爰 Yuan 乙酉 Yǐyǒu – Wood Rooster (year.
In his life that should correspond to 1945 or early 1946. The next 2 characters look like an archaic name for a festival in the 12th lunar month.

There’s also a seal at the lower left, and it says:

不俗即

僊骨

多情乃

佛心

Bùsú jí xiāngǔ

Duōqíng nǎi fóxīn

(僊 is used here as an archaic form of 仙 for the seal script form)
Translation:

Extraordinary: the Immortals’ quality;

Passionate: the Buddha’s spirit.

This is an old couplet that is unattributed but well known in Chinese. It is from Nengren Temple on Baiyun Mountain.

Dimensions: Art: 13 1/2″ high x 36 3/4″ wide. Frame: 20 3/4″ high x 48 1/2″ wide.