China, c. 17th - 18th century or earlier. Ink, watercolors, and gouache on silk, laid down on paper. Finely painted with three playful gibbons in a hawthorn tree enjoying its fruits, one dangling precariously from a branch trying to grab a distant spoil just out of its reach.

Inscriptions: Lower left, inscribed 'Yi Yuanji'. The upper right with a title slip inscribed 'Yi Yuanji, Monkeys, Divine Class.' Two seals, 'Da […] wangchang', 'Molin shanren', and 'Tushufu jiandingyin'.

Provenance: Chicago trade, acquired from a private estate.
Condition: Good condition with some wear, minor soiling, fading, light creasing, tiny losses.

Dimensions: Image length 50 cm, Size incl. frame 54.8 x 54.8 cm

Yi Yuanji (c. 1000-1064) was a Northern Song dynasty painter, famous for his realistic depictions of animals. According to Robert van Gulik, Yi Yuanji's paintings of gibbons were particularly celebrated. Yuanji spent months roaming the mountains of southern Hubei and northern Hunan, watching roebucks and gibbons in their natural environment. In 1064, Yi Yuanji was invited to paint screens in the imperial palace. Once this job has been completed, the Yingzong Emperor, impressed, commissioned him to paint the Picture of a Hundred Gibbons, but the artist died after painting only a few gibbons. A few of his other gibbon paintings have survived, and Robert van Gulik, quite familiar with the behavior of this ape, comments on how naturally they look in the pictures.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related painting by Yi Yuanji depicting three gibbons capturing egrets, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, image number K2A001795N000000000PAA.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie's Hong Kong, 1 June 2015, lot 1049
Price: HKD 150,000 or approx. EUR 21,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Yi Yuanji (style of, 11th century), Gibbons
Expert remark: Compare the related subject and manner of painting. Note the size (112 x 66 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie's Hong Kong, 30 October 2000, lot 503
Price: HKD 152,750 or approx. EUR 25,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Anonymous (12th/13th century, attributed to Yi Yuanji), A family of monkeys
Expert remark: Compare the related subject and manner of painting. Note the size (50.5 x 82 cm).