A gentleman called me at The Appraisal Group recently to say he had inherited a painting by Degas. He hoped fervently that it was real but allowed that it might be a fake. As an antiques and fine art appraiser, I agreed to take a look.

On examination of the painting, I noticed almost immediately that it was signed J. Davis – a clear indication that the work of art was a copy. When questioned, the gentleman did tell me the family had an artist-in-law by that name. Since neither the artist nor the owner had tried to pass it off as an original, it was not a forgery. It was merely a “study”. It has long been a tradition among young artists learning their craft to copy masterpieces in museums.

Studies have been made by many, including Chinese Emperors. One was the Song Emperor Zhou. An art lover and an accomplished artist himself, he loved imitating the great masters of times past.  (The Song Dynasty ran 960-1279.) One of these studies was of a painting done by Zhou Wenju during the Five Dynasty’s Period (907-960). The long scroll painting hangs in the Palace Museum in Beijing, China. It has long been a National Treasure.

Its status is now challenged by the discovery of a version that may well be the long-lost original by Zhou Wenju, who served in the court of Southern Tang Dynasty (618-907) Emperor Li Yu and was often summoned to the palace to record banquets, nightlife and state occasions. He would have seen a group of nobles having a chess game or he might have had them sit for a chess game painting.  

The newly discovered ink-and-color on silk is rectangular, not long.  Its brush strokes are made with a quivering pen, a technique Zhou Wenju owned.  It is called “Chess Game abut of Screen” (sic) and carries colophons by notables, five emperors seals and two collectors seals. All of which attest to its provenance. 

Now we have a conundrum. The long scroll painting has its own provenance, namely that it hangs in the Palace Museum.  Experts have examined it over the years and there exists a body of scholarship that indicates it is a copy, made by the one man who could have owned the original, Emperor Zong. Substantiating this theory is the fact that it has no seal mark, only Emperor Zong’s calligraphy.

This begs the question: Where has the rectangular original been these past centuries? The closest we have to an answer is that it resided in a private collection for at least the last 20 years. Before that is a mystery. The next questions is, will the painting be sold? Will a wealthy art collector purchase the rectangular silk version or will it go to a museum? Will time tell that the original is right and the scroll in China is a copy? We’ll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, if you would like to take a look at the rectangular painting and the scholarship that accompanies it, please visit www.gianguanauctions.com. Click on the catalog icon and the virtual book will open. You will find “Chess Game abut a Screen” at Lot 92. It will be in Gianguan Auctions next sale on Saturday, March 19th in New York City and online. People lucky enough to be in New York March 11 -18, will be able to see the painting up close at Gianguan Auctions’ preview.

Fakes, forgeries and studies. They are the bad and good sides of the art world. If you own an art collection, keeping your fingers crossed that they all originals is not a good idea. The better idea is to invite The Appraisal Group in for an appraisal – and the definitive answer.