On Wings of Song: Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from the Collection of Robert van Gulik

Sale Overview

Christie's is proud to present On Wings of Song: Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from the Collection of Robert van Gulik, an online-only auction that celebrates the life of Mr. Robert Hans van Gulik on the 110th anniversary of his birth.

Robert van Gulik (1910-1967) was an important Dutch sinologist, diplomat, guqin musician and writer in the 20th century. He was also a founding member, and the only foreign member of the Tianfeng Qin Society while working in the Dutch Consulate in Chongqing. This special sale presents paintings and calligraphy collected by Robert van Gulik, carefully curated into three sections:

（1）Works by important scholars and government officials such as Guo Moruo (1892-1978), Shen Yinmo (1883-1971), and Chen Lifu (1900-2001);
（2）Works by fellow Tianfeng Qin Society members, including Xu Yuanbai (1892-1957), Xu Wenjing (1895-1975), and military leader Feng Yuxiang (1882-1948);
（3）Works collected during Robert van Gulik’s travels in Japan and China, such as legendary qin monk Donggao Xinyue (Toukou Shinetsu, 1639-1696), Pu Ru (1896-1963), and Xiao Lisheng (1919-1983)

Part of the collection was sold by Christie’s Amsterdam in 1983 and another 116 works were donated to Chongqing’s Three Gorges Museum in 2014, to be on permanent display in the Robert van Gulik Exhibition Room. Through the sale of this collection, we get a glimpse of van Gulik’s friendships with artists, scholars and political leaders in China as a diplomat and experience his extraordinary life as a sinologist and writer.

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