Chen Hengke (1876-1923), Garden Rock with Chrysanthemums and Amaranth. Hanging scroll, 130 x 31,2 cm, ink and colors on paper. Signature by the artist: "For the elegant judgment of my friend Jiuming, Hengke." One seal of the artist: "Seal of Chen Hengke" (Chen Hengke yin). One collector's seal: "Yulu zhuren suo cang". - Property from an old Berlin private collection, bought by the father of the present owner in the 1960'ies - Chen Hengke, also spelled Chen Hengque, style name Shizeng, was from Yining in Jiangxi. He was born into an old literati family and his grandfather and father both were government officials. So he received a classical education and began to learn painting at the age of six. From 1902 to 1909 he studied in Japan. There he became acquainted with the works of the early Qing dynasty individualist painter Shitao (1642-1707) who advocated an individualistic, expressive style. After returning from Japan Chen Hengke spent some time in Shanghai where he studied with Wu Changshuo (1844-1927) and was deeply influenced by this master's epigraphic brush style based on seal script and seal carving. Finally Chen moved to Peking where he became one of the leading masters in the traditional literati style combining orthodox painting techniques with subjective expression and epigraphic brushwork. This is evident in this painting for example in the vigorous strokes in the chrysanthemum flowers and the expressive depiction of the garden rock - Very minor traces of age