ZHANG DAQIAN (1899-1983), Calligraphy Couplet

ZHANG DAQIAN (1899-1983)
Calligraphy Couplet
Inscribed and signed, with two seals of the artist
Dated autumn, wuwu year (1978)
Dedicated to Jianjun (James C. Kung) (2)
Pair of hanging scroll, ink on paper
Each measures 53 3/4 x 13 1/4 in.(136.5 x 33.7 cm.)

拍品前備註
FROM THE LAST STUDENT OF ZHANG DAQIAN
The owner of this couplet, James C Kung, was born in 1915 in Shanghai. With an active career in the financial field, he was branch president of the Bank of the Republic of China in Bangkok, New York, and Tokyo; as well as branch president and manager of the Chemical Bank in Taipei, Taiwan. Chinese painting and calligraphy were his greatest passion in life, while his wife, Janet Kung, taught herself oil painting. Most of the paintings in his collection were gifted to James Kung by Zhang Daqian in the 1970s, when Kung and his wife were residing in Taipei. Prior to that, in a traditional Chinese Pupil Ceremony in New York, Mr. Kung was accepted as Zhang’s last student. The couple were frequent dinner guests at the artist’s home, and it was there that they became part of the inner social circle which remained true until and beyond the death of the venerated artist. Their collection accompanied the Kungs across the Pacific to Alhambra, California.