"DAI DUNBAG'S" CLASSIC PAINTING, SCROLL, CHINESE: "DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER"

An intriguing scroll with many maidens in beautiful dresses and various poses.  These appear to be imperial ladies of rank or possibly palace concubines.  The scenes are from
Dream of the Red Chamber
(Shitou Ji). The scroll is in very good condition for its age.  An Asian scholar at a premier university in Washington, DC informed me that t
he painting is by world renowed Chinese artist Mr. Dai Dunbang (1938-). Whereas the description calligraphy next to the five characters was painted by “Qinxi” in autumn of 1960.
There is minimal surface fading and slight wrinkling in some areas.  Please see the condition in the pictures provided.  A section of the attachment brocade is unglued, but this is only the hanging section which can be easily re-glued and restored.  This part is the hanging part is not part of the art or narrative.  The artwork and calligraphy are in very good condition.   The dimensions are
183 inches (aprx 15.5 feet) and 29 inches.
Please feel free to make an offer.  All reasonable offers will be considered.  A portion of the proceeds will be donated to charity.
The following is a summary of “Shitou ji”
:
Dream of the Red Chamber, also called The Story of the Stone (
simplified Chinese
:
石头记
;
traditional Chinese
:
石頭記
;
pinyin
:
Shitou ji
), composed by
Cao Xueqin
, is one of China’s
Four Great Classical Novels
. It was written sometime in the middle of the 18th century during the
Qing Dynasty
. It is considered a masterpiece of
Chinese literature
and is generally acknowledged to be the pinnacle of Chinese fiction. “
Redology
” is the field of study devoted exclusively to this work.
[1]
The title has also been translated as Red Chamber Dream and A Dream of Red Mansions. The novel circulated in manuscript copies with various titles until its print publication, in 1791. While the first 80 chapters were written by Cao Xueqin,
Gao E
, who prepared the first and second printed editions with his partner Cheng Weiyuan in 1791-2, added 40 additional chapters to complete the novel.
[2]
Red Chamber is believed to be semi-
autobiographical
, mirroring the rise and decay of author Cao Xueqin’s own family and, by extension, of the Qing Dynasty.
[3]
As the author details in the first chapter, it is intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants. The novel is remarkable not only for its huge cast of characters and psychological scope, but also for its precise and detailed observation of the life and social structures typical of 18th-century Chinese aristocracy.
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