SIGNED ZHENG ZHONG (ACTIVE CA. 1600-1650) China, ca. 17th/ 18th ct. 31,4 x 245,8 cm Gathering of the Immortals of Antiquity. Ink and colors on silk, mounted as handscroll. Signature at the end of the scroll: “Respectfully painted by Qianli Zheng Zhong”. One seal of the artist: “Qianli”. Four collectors’ seals. Frontispiece with title in seal script: “Traces of the Immortals of High Antiquity. Respectfully written by Sun Xingyan from Lanling.” Two seals: "Xingyan", “Sun shi Boyuan”. Three colophons after the painting, the first dated Da Ming guichou (1613), the second Jiaqing yichou (1805), the third one, signed “Yuhu waishi Gai Qi (1774-1829), Daoguang first year xinsi (1821). From an old southern German private collection, acquired between 1970 and 2002 The scroll depicts a gathering of all the Sages and immortals of Chinese Mythology in a wild mountain scenery. Some are arriving with their animals like deer or tiger, others are coming crossing the turbulent waves of the sea. The first colophon tells the year of the gathering being the bingshen year of the Yuanzhen period (1296). It also says that altogether fourty two immortals attended that gathering and lists the names of them. Most of the depicted figures are Daoist immortals, like the Eight Immortals and many others, but also Buddhist ones appear like Hanshan and Shide. Even the three founders of the three religions, Laozi, Confucius and Buddha, appear near the end of the scroll. The faces of the figures are all depicted vividly and expressive in fine lines and light shading, the garment is rendered in broader calligraphic lines. Every figure shows its characteristic temperament and behavior. Zheng Zhong, style name Qianli, was a well known painter of Buddhist figures from Shexian in Anhui province who lived in Nanjing. He was said to have been a successful follower of Zhao Boju (died ca. 1162). On the title slab at the outside of the scroll it is stated that the painting is a copy after a work by Zhao Boju who is especially famous for his depictions of fairy palaces in the mountains inhabited by immortals Very minor damages due to age, partly slightly rest.