瑞士記游 (Ruishi ji you, "Journey to Switzerland"), leporello album of ink paintings on paper, signed Zhang Daqian (張大千, Chang Dai-chien, 1899-1983), late 1950s-early 1960s, comprising 12 painted pages on one side and 14 painted pages on the other, showing a continuous landscape on one side, and calligraphy on the other, 24x18 cm

The cover of the album, in shades of green, is decorated with flowers, wan and geometric motifs. It bears the title of the album, 瑞士記游 (Ruishi ji you, "Journey to Switzerland"), the signature 爰 (Yuan), and the seal 大千[鈴?] (Daqian [ling?]) . The brown monochrome slipcase is signed 大千居士 (Daqian jushi). The album and its box set bear a dedication to 子杰(Zijie), nickname of Guo Youshou (Kuo Yu-Shou, 郭有守, 1901-1978).

The front of the album presents a continuous landscape over twelve and a half pages, a landscape punctuated by mountains, forests, dwellings and figures, followed by an inscription extending over two and a half pages. On these inscribed pages we can read the signature 爰 (Yuan), and the seals 法匠 (Fa jiang) on the penultimate page and 張爰私印 (Zhang yuan si yin) on the last page. Mention 子杰 (Guo Zijie).

The reverse has inscriptions on all pages, each going from double page to double page (the first set of double pages is unpainted). Some indications on certain double pages:

- first double page: signature 爰(Yuan) and seal 下里巴人 (Xiali baren), date 丁酉年 (dingyou, "fire rooster", possibly corresponding to 1957)

- second double page: signature 爰 (Yuan) and seal 張爰私印 (Zhang Yuan si yin)

- fourth double page: page decorated with a painting of khaki, signature 爰 (Yuan), two seals 張爰私印 (Zhang Yuan si yin) and 昵燕 (Ni Yan), mention 子杰 (Guo Zijie)

- sixth double page: signature 大千弟 爰 (Daqian di Yuan), seals 大千居士 (Daqian jushi), 張爰 (Zhang Yuan), date 丁酉三月 (dingyou sanyue, "third month of the year of the fire rooster", possibly 1957). Mention 子杰四弟 (Zijie si di, Guo Zijie)

Provenance: collection of Li Ai Vee (1932-2021), a former student of Zhang Daqian. Yu-Lan chalet

張大千（1899-1983）

《瑞士記游》

設色紙本 山水和書法冊 冊頁十四開

約1950-1960年

款識: 爰, 大千居士, 大千弟 爰

鈐印 : 大千[鈴?], 法匠, 下里巴人, 張爰私印, 張爰私印, 昵燕, 大千居士, 張爰

贈予 郭子杰 (郭有守)

Zhang Daqian (張大千, Chang Dai-chien, 1899-1983)

Zhang Daqian (張大千, Chang Dai-chien, 1899-1983), one of the most renowned Chinese painters of the 20th century, mastered the thousand and one subtleties of ink painting, refreshing a medium that had been rooted in Chinese tradition for over two thousand years. Over the course of a prolific and eclectic career spanning more than sixty years, this internationally acclaimed artist produced more than five hundred paintings a year, the most famous being his landscape paintings in ‘splashed ink’ (pocai), verging on abstraction. He was the subject of numerous international exhibitions during his lifetime, and some of his works are held in renowned institutions such as the Musée Cernuschi in Paris, the National Palace Museum in Taipei and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 2011, Zhang Daqian even became the most expensive artist sold at auction in the world that year, surpassing Pablo Picasso. In addition to his career as a painter, Zhang Daqian was also a great art collector and connoisseur.

Having travelled extensively around the world, Zhang Daqian visited Switzerlandduring the second half of the 1950s and the 1960s. It was there in 1965 that he met Li Ai Vee, who subsequently became his pupil. The Swiss landscape was a great source of inspiration for Zhang Daqian during his many visits. Indeed, several of his paintings have the mysterious splendours of the Alps as their subject. Our leporello album ‘Journey to Switzerland’ (lot 40) features a Swiss landscape painted in the traditional Chinese style. In the year he met Li Ai Vee, the artist also painted a Swiss mountain landscape, which he dedicated to her (Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 April 2011, lot no. 1110). In addition to these traditionally painted landscapes, the painter produced a series of Swiss landscapes using his splashed ink technique. The album ‘Travelling for entertainment’ (lot 41) takes us on a visual journey through a variety of scenes alternating between flowers, animals, mushrooms, people and landscapes, all painted using the thousand and one subtle colours of black ink. In the same year, Zhang Daqian also produced a similar painting of a bird on a bamboo branch, dedicated to Li Aiwei (Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 4 May 1995, lot no. 1003).

Below the title of our two albums (as well as on the protective box of the album ‘Journey to Switzerland’), we can see the name 子杰 (Zijie). This name refers to Doctor Guo Youshou (Kuo Yu-Shou, 郭有守 , 1901-1978), also known as Guo Zijie, Minister of Education in Sichuan and Director of UNESCO's Education Department. Guo Youshou was an emblematic figure in the promotion of Chinese artists in Europe (especially in Paris), particularly Zhang Daqian, whom he considered a brother, both coming from the province of Sichuan. It was with him that Zhang Daqian travelled to Europe from the second half of the 1950s and into the 1960s to exhibit his work. Guo Youshou played a key role in helping the painter to promote his work, thanks to his mastery of foreign languages and his position in international circles. Through Guo Youshou's influence, Li Ai Vee met Zhang Daqian and became his pupil. A painting by Zhang Daqian from the Li Ai Vee collection, marked Guo Zijie and dated 1965, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 November 2010, lot no. 2648.

Collection of Li Ai Vee

Piguet auction house is honoured to present the second part of the collection of Li Ai Vee ( 李 爱维 , born Eva Anita Li, 1932-2021), a Chinese-German painter living in Switzerland and a fervent collector of Asian art, mainly Chinese and Japanese.

Born in Shanghai, Li Ai Vee was introduced to painting as a child by her mother, herself an artist, and went on to become a pupil of prestigious painters such as Lin Fengmian (1900-1991) and Lu Yifei (1908-1997) in the 1950s. She then spent several years in Japan, where she was a disciple of the Zen master Rinzai Yamada Mumon Rôshi (1900-1988). There, in 1954, she was selected to paint several bamboos on the sliding doors of the Hiroshima Memorial.

In 1958, Li Ai Vee left China and settled in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1965, she met Zhang Daqian (Chang Dai-Chien, 1899-1983), and became a pupil of this internationally renowned painter. That same year, she was awarded the Medal of the City of Paris in recognition of her art.

In 1973, Li Ai Vee moved to Blonay to the chalet ‘Yu-Lan’ ( 玉蘭 , ‘Magnolia’), surrounded by a vast bamboo forest and guarded by carved Foo lions. It was there that she painted, surrounded by her extensive collection of Asian art, which she has enriched over the years. Li Ai Vee has put together a rich and varied collection of objects, combining monochrome vases, paintings and albums, scholarly objects, carved jades and divinities from the Asian pantheon, all of which she has combined with her passion for art.

The entire collection can be found by entering the keyword ‘Li Ai Vee’ in the search bar on our website.

The third and fourth parts of Li Ai Vee's collection will be presented in our future sales in March 2025 and June 2025.