Visiting a Friend with a QinHanging scroll, ink on paper, inscribed with a poem by the artist, signed Hu Zhang, with two artist's seals reading Hu shi Tiemei and Shuiqing shishou bian neng qi.96 1/2 x 48in (245.1 x 121.9cm) 胡璋 攜琴訪友圖 水墨紙本 立軸Provenance/來源:Christie's New York, Fine Chinese Paintings, 31 May 1990, lot 217佳士得紐約，1990年5月31日，拍品編號217Published/出版:Toda, Teisuke and Hiromitsu Ogawa comp. Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Paintings, Third Series, Volume 1: American and Canadian Collections, University of Tokyo Press, 2013, A50-248, p. 223戶田禎佑、小川裕充，《中國繪畫總合圖錄》三編，第一卷，東京大學出版會，東京，2013年，A50-248，頁223Andrews, Julia Frances, Michael Knight, and Pauline Yao. Between the Thunder and the Rain: Chinese Paintings from the Opium War Through the Cultural Revolution, 1840-1979, San Francisco: Echo Rock Ventures, in association with the Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture, 2000, pp. 44-45Andrews, Julia Frances, Michael Knight, and Pauline Yao,《風雲際會：從鴉片戰爭到「文革」（1840-1979）的中國繪畫》，亞洲藝術博物館，李鐘文亞洲藝術文化中心，舊金山，加州，2000年，頁44-45Little, Stephen, and J. May Lee Barrett, New Songs on Ancient Tunes: 19th-20th Century Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from the Richard Fabian Collection, Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2007, pp. 498-499Little, Stephen, J. May Lee Barrett,《古調新歌：費立哲神父珍藏十九及二十世紀中國書畫》，檀香山藝術博物館，夏威夷，2007年，頁498-499Exhibited/展覽:Between the Thunder and the Rain, Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture, San Francisco, California, October 25, 2000-January 14, 2001《風雲際會：從鴉片戰爭到「文革」（1840-1979）的中國繪畫》，亞洲藝術博物館，舊金山，加州，2000年10月25日至2001年1月14日New Songs on Ancient Tunes, Honolulu Art Academy, Honolulu, Hawaii, August 30-October 28, 2007《古調新歌：費立哲神父珍藏十九及二十世紀中國書畫》，檀香山藝術博物館，夏威夷，2007年8月30日至10月28日Hu Zhang, who used the courtesy name Tiemei, was a native of Jiande (now Dongzhi county), Anhui Province. He was born into a family of painters and scholars. He resided in Shanghai for many years and also lived in Japan for many years. This landscape is inscribed by the artist "following the brushwork of Mei Daoren", a tribute to Wu Zhen (1280-1354), one of the Four Masters of the Yuan. Wu Zhen is known for his ink landscapes, characterized by vigorous brushstrokes with ample ink for rendering verdant, dense, and luxuriant woods and mountains. Hu Zhang has fully grasped the essence of Wu's style, incorporating his signature sharp and rigid lines, as his courtesy name Tiemei (literally "iron plum tree") implies. The subject of taking a qin (zither) to visit a friend is a recurring and much-loved theme by Chinese literati artists. It is derived from the story of friendship between the legendary qin master Yu Boya in the Spring and Autumn period and a woodcutter Zhong Ziqi, who understood Yu's music the best. 胡璋（1848-1899），字鐵梅，安徽建德（今東至縣）人。出身書香繪畫世家。久寓滬上，為晚清海派六十家之一。胡璋亦曾遊日本，在日畫名甚噪。本幅自題"略擬梅道人筆意"，可見是畫家對梅道人的致敬之作。梅道人即元四家之一吳鎮（1280-1354）。吳鎮以水墨山水聞名，其特徵為用墨淋漓，筆力蒼勁，善寫山林崢嶸郁茂之景。本幅運筆用墨亦隨此法，同時融合胡璋個人風格，線條方折倔強，筆如其名。由俞伯牙鐘子期之間的知音故事衍生而出"攜琴訪友"主題一向是中國文人畫家筆下鍾愛之題材。