Cuppar Auction

Dear Collectors and Friends,
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We cordially invite you to join us in Hangzhou to witness a milestone occasion: CUPPAR 5th Anniversary Zhejiang South-North
2025 Spring Auction. The Spring Auction Preview will be held from July 23 to 25 at MadeOriental Art Centre and the Sheraton Grand Hangzhou Binjiang Hotel.
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The preview will feature highlights from our “Chinese Classic Paintings” sale, along with the curated thematic session “Made Oriental: Hangzhou.”Together, these exhibitions trace artistic lineages from Northern to Southern China and present the diverse aesthetics and evolving expressions of Chinese painting from antiquity to the modern era.

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Painted in 1981, when Zhang Daqian was eighty-three and residing at the Moyejingshe in Taiwan, 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 stands as a paradigmatic large-scale work from the period in which his splash ink and color technique attained consummate maturity.
In this composition, lofty banks and level groves give way to a boundless autumn river, across whose mist-laden expanse drifts a solitary boat. The brushwork, at once vigorous and restrained, evokes the unbridled spirit of Wang Qia’s splashed-ink landscapes from the Tang Dynasty, while also integrating a luminous sensibility to light and color indebted to Western Impressionism. The result is a quintessential example of Zhang’s late approach, conjuring a semi-abstract realm imbued with quietude and depth.
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This work emerges as a compelling testament to Zhang Daqian’s late efforts to reimagine and extend the possibilities of the genre of Chinese landscape painting. Here, the imagery of mountains and streams is liberated from inherited formulas, animated instead by a subtle breath-like rhythm and a chromatic delicacy that together breathe new life into landscape painting at a pivotal juncture in its evolution.
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Further amplifying its significance is the notable market reception of analogous works from this perio, such as 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦, which commanded over CNY 19.3 million at auction in Hong Kong in 2010, underscoring the dual resonance of this painting, both as a landmark within Zhang’s artistic legacy and as a work of enduring appeal.
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LOT 336
𝐙𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐚𝐪𝐢𝐚𝐧 (1899-1983) Landscape
mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper
1981 | 180 × 75 cm