Sponsored by Poly Art Museum and co-organized by Beijing Poly International Auction Co., Ltd., "The Light of the Day-Palace Paintings in the Ming Dynasty " will be held from October 30th to November 5th, 2014 at Long Museum (West Bund).The exhibition will be the first collection that display fifteen works of Ming Dynasty paintings selected from private collectors at home and abroad.

Guan Mianjun’s "Playing in the Imperial Garden" is the most precious piece among these exhibited paintings. From right to left, the painting shows the following scenes: drinking tea, feeding cats, watching flower fish, fighting crickets, playing the guqin, fighting quail, playing chess and watching birds. The painting is grand, complicated and detailed. The activities happening in the back garden are vividly depicted. The painting includes the life in the palace, architecture, costumes, and paintings, therefore it has a high degree of realism and historical value.

Hu Cong’s "Spring Hunting" is not only a huge scale, but also a unique composition painting. According to the research of Nie Chongzheng, this painting "is far superior to the "Liuyin Double Horses" in the Palace Museum" in terms of its brilliance. What is particularly rare is that the palace paintings of the Ming Dynasty were all collected in Renzhi Hall, Wuying Hall, and Wenhua Hall, while Hu Cong’s "Spring Hunting" is the only one that has left among the folks. In addition, the two seals, "Queens of Qing Dynasty" and "History of Imperial Paintings" are rarely seen in the works of other Ming palace painters. Hence, the "Spring Hunting" provides new references to the study of Ming Dynasty court paintings.

Wu Wei’s "The Man under the Pine" is a rolled painting of landscapes and figures. Wu Wei used the method of nail-head folding reed. The appearances of mountain rocks, trees and water patterns are powerful. Wu Wei seemed to be drunk when he painted this piece, as a result, the painting demonstrates roughness and exquisiteness at the same time.

"Arahant" is painted by the eunuch of Yingzong and Daizong. This work is exactly the same as the year, seal, texture, size, shaft head and decoration shape of the existing land and water paintings collected by the Jimei Museum in France.

Dai Jin’s "Looking at The Mountains" is his panoramic light-colour landscape painting. This painting should be Dai Jin’s finest landscape work in his later years. Its composition has evolved from the diagonal composition of Ma Yuan and Xia Gui in the early Southern Song Dynasty to the panoramic composition of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties. The brushwork blended the styles of five generations. The style since the Song and Yuan dynasties has been infused with its own personality, reflecting a style that is both bold and simple.

Knowns as "Contemporary Ma Yuan", Wang E's "Washing the Feet" depicts Gaoshi sitting on the bank of the river, leaning over and washing his feet. His characters are simple, lively and natural. The brushwork of the landscape painting is delicate. It not only inherits the style of Southern Song Yuan painting, but also gets rid of Ma Yuan style, making it more delicate and full of charm, reflecting the style of the middle Ming Dynasty.  

Zhu Duan's "Summer Vacation" adopts a pyramid-like composition. The style is beautiful and smooth, the pen is vigorous, and the ink is bright and colourful. "The sharp ink takes the spirit so that the brushstrokes are graceful and vulgar". His depiction of the scenery from the nearby to the faraway is vivid, full of vitality, showing the pleasant scenery of Jiangnan's mountains and clear waters. The leisurely and comfortable poetic life of literati and doctors, with a clear artistic conception is demonstrated.

Bian Jingzhao’s "Reed and Gardenia" is a surprise discovery when we selected our works for the exhibition. The original work is unrecognizable at first sight. The upper right corner of the frame has three vertical seals. Since these three seals are commonly used by Bian Jingzhao, the painting is then determined to be an extremely rare piece preserved by the folk.

Lu Ji's "Red Plum and Dove" is cleverly laid out. The focus of the whole painting is in the middle left of the picture, which occupies one third of the picture, while the blank on the right occupies about two-thirds. The whole painting is taken from the side, which is breath-taking; the blank part is taken from the snowy scenery, filled with dark clouds, mists. his painting should be a masterpiece when the painting style was changed in his middle age and his painting skills were mature.

Lin Liang’s "Two Eagles" has a refined style. It inherits the style of the Southern Song Dynasty. The brushwork and ink are strong and arbitrary without letting the subjects lose the physical shape. The painting of the two eagles and the other five birds is clean and accurate. The brush draws out a soft body and feathers, which contains power in its elegance. The seemingly simple outlines, shades, dots, and dyes have demonstrated Lin Liang’s ability to control the pen and ink.