YUAN YAO (C. 1720-1784)Friends Gathering in the RetreatInk and colour on silk, hanging scrollSigned Hanshang Yuan Yao, with two artist's sealsDated gengzi (1780)166 x 198cm (65⅜ x 78in)For further information on this lot please visit theProvenance: 袁耀　山莊客至　設色絹本　立軸　一七八〇年作款識：庚子（1780）清和月，邗上袁耀畫。鈐印：袁、耀Yuan Yao and his elder relative Yuan Jiang were both professional painters among a circle of Yangzhou-based artists painting a distinct style of landscapes in the early and middle Qing. Specializing in large scalepositions that capture the majesty of Northern Song monumentality, Yuan Yao and Yuan Jiang's paintings are humanized with sprawling architecturalpounds rendered with fine details that enrich the scene with a glimpse of the material culture of the day, and, the tension between precisely defined architectural features and household furnishings with the bold brushwork of the mountains that crest over the human realm is one triumph of the Yuan Yao/Yuan Jiang style.In the current lot, from the collection of Mark S. Pratt of Washington DC, Yuan Yao conjures a scene where dramatic mountains embrace an elegant country lakeside manor, opposed by a small fishing village on a distant shore. Within theposition, figures gather in the numerous rooms of the large multi-storied house, and a winding covered verandah leads to a pavilion at the water's edge, where a game of chess is ready for play. Along the winding corridors household staff bustle about in service of the residents, the figures energizing the scene. A zig-zagging bridge, a repeating motif that appears in many of Yuan Yao's paintings, crosses the water, connecting the manor with another shore. Vibrant mineral pigments capture the spring foliage and punctuate the landscape with bursts of color-- the sumptuous palette an allusion to Tang dynasty painting aesthetics. The voids in theposition--which indicate clouds and mist--interplay with the solid forms, and together solid and void endow the painting with rhythm and balance.The grand dimensions of this painting indicate that the scroll was likely amission for a wealthy Yangzhou patron. Although Yuan Yao, as well as Yuan Jiang, were briefly associated with the Qing Imperial atelier in Beijing, for most of their careers they were based in Yangzhou, catering to the wealthy elite and merchant classes that populated the thriving cultural metropolis. In the century that followed the collapse of the Ming, the generous philanthropy of merchant families transformed Yangzhou into a city of splendid houses, temples and gardens, surmounting Suzhou as China's cultural capital. Whereas numerous artists flocked to the city to revel in the flourishing art scene, the grandness of the Yuan Yao/Yuan Jiang style as expressed in this scroll, was especially well-suited topliment the large merchant mansions.註：清初畫壇，以「四王」為代表的文人畫被視為正宗，他們沿襲董其昌的畫風脈絡，恪守古法，追求筆墨韻致，深受士大夫階層的推崇。而生活在康乾時期的袁江、袁耀父子（一說叔侄）二人，卻能以風格嚴謹、技法高超的山水樓閣