QING DYNASTY, LATE 19TH CENTURY, SIGNED 'CHENG MEN'

Cheng Men (1834-1908) is recorded in a Republic publication, Zhongguo Huajia Renming Cidian, 'A Dictionary of Chinese Artists', as an artist of the late Qing period renowned for his paintings of landscapes, figures and flowers, see Zhushan Bayou, Shanghai wenhua chubanshe, 2008, p. 15. Cheng Men was also known to have enamelled ceramics at Jingdezhen and together with his contemporaries Jin Pinqing and Wang Shaowei, were pioneers in the use of soft matt enamels on ceramics which had profound effect on the works of later artists of the Republic period. Two of the present panels are inscribed with dates, the first indicates that it was painted by the artist when he was fifty-six years old (1889) and another bears a Guangxu third year, dingchou date which corresponds to 1877.