Ding Yung Peng (1547 1628)AvalokitesvaraPortrait of the Bodhisattva standing on lotuses in front of three prostrating arhats, tempera painting on marouflaged paper on a silk scroll, signed at bottom right and situated "painted by Ding Yung-Peng in the region of Wanjiang". Works by this artist are exhibited at the Palace Museum in Beijing, the National Museum of Taipei, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. China, 17th century. Biographical note: Born in Anhui, an eastern province of China home to the mystic yellow mountains, numerous immortals, and the birthplace of some of the emperors' greatest ministers, Ding Yung-Peng was born into an educated family that collected antique paintings. A colleague of Dong Qichang's, he was a member of a group that that painted historical and divine figures. He specialised in Buddhist and Taoist figures with bright colours. Art historians believe that his Guan yin holding a child in his arms (exhibited at the Palace Museum of Beijing) is directly inspired by a painting of the Virgin Mary by Matteo Ricci, present in the region in the painter's time. This hypothesis supports the idea that it is the oldest Western art-inspired Chinese painting. The robes and the brightness of the colours in this work evoke the same inspiration. 107 x 42 cm Water and age spots, crinkled paper.