Changes

*''Chinese'': [[張]]大千 ''(Zhāng Dáqiān)''

*''Chinese'': [[張]]大千 ''(Zhāng Dáqiān)''

Zhāng Dáqiān was a prominent Chinese painter, collector, and forger, often called the greatest Chinese art-forger of the 20th century. In addition to selling museums authentic historical works he collected, and genuinely new works he painted and sold as original Zhang Daqian works, Zhang also sold museums numerous forgeries. These included forgeries claiming to date as far back as the [[Tang Dynasty]], which entered the collections of elite museums such as the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], and [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]].

Zhāng Dáqiān was a prominent Chinese painter, collector, and forger, often called the greatest Chinese art-forger of the 20th century. In addition to selling museums authentic historical works he collected, and genuinely new works he painted and sold as original Zhang Daqian works, Zhang also sold museums numerous forgeries. These included forgeries claiming to date as far back as the [[Tang Dynasty]], which entered the collections of elite museums such as the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], and [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]] (MFA).

==Life & Career==

==Life & Career==

He also collected numerous historical works, including especially works by the masters of the [[Ming Dynasty]], many of which he would then sell to major museums in the West. Through his dealings in both authentic historical works, and his own masterful contemporary pieces, he was able to earn a significant degree of trust from major museums in the West, which then allowed him to begin passing off forgeries. In 1957, he sold to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through a middleman, a painting he claimed to be a 10th century original by Guan Tong, going so far as to not only artificially age the silk and the like, and to include seals of authentic historical personages to create a plausible line of provenance, but to even match his forgery to a work listed in the ''[[Xuanhe huapu]]'', the [[Song Dynasty]] inventory of the Imperial collections compiled by [[Emperor Huizong]], thus passing it off as a painting known to have existed, and which was now resurfacing. Building on the success of this sale, the following year he sold the museum a painting of [[Vimalakirti]] which he successfully passed off as being a 6th-century original from Dunhuang.

He also collected numerous historical works, including especially works by the masters of the [[Ming Dynasty]], many of which he would then sell to major museums in the West. Through his dealings in both authentic historical works, and his own masterful contemporary pieces, he was able to earn a significant degree of trust from major museums in the West, which then allowed him to begin passing off forgeries. In 1957, he sold to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through a middleman, a painting he claimed to be a 10th century original by Guan Tong, going so far as to not only artificially age the silk and the like, and to include seals of authentic historical personages to create a plausible line of provenance, but to even match his forgery to a work listed in the ''[[Xuanhe huapu]]'', the [[Song Dynasty]] inventory of the Imperial collections compiled by [[Emperor Huizong]], thus passing it off as a painting known to have existed, and which was now resurfacing. Building on the success of this sale, the following year he sold the museum a painting of [[Vimalakirti]] which he successfully passed off as being a 6th-century original from Dunhuang.

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==References==

==References==

*"[http://www.asianartnewspaper.com/article/zhang-daqian Zhang Daqian]," ''Asian Art Newspaper'', 9 April 2012.

*"[http://www.asianartnewspaper.com/article/zhang-daqian Zhang Daqian]," ''Asian Art Newspaper'', 9 April 2012.

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]