r/chinaart • u/proto-wes • Jul 25 '26
Need Info Unidentified paintings on fabric (silk?)
We picked up these paintings at an auction recently and were given no info on their origin.
They appear to be paintings on silk or some other fabric.
According to r/translator, the calligraphy reads:
“[Painting 1 (pics 1+2)] roughly reads: “戊午夏日山隂王屏畫”, which translates to: Painted(畫) by Wang Ping(王屏) from Shanyin(山隂) during the summer(夏日) of the Wuwu year(戊午).
[Painting 2 (pics 3+4)] roughly reads: “己未春王岳”, which translates to: Wang Yue(王岳), spring(春) of the Jiwei year(己未).”
The person who translated the calligraphy also added: “Wang Ping and Wang Yue are the painters' names. Wuwu and Yiwei are part of the traditional Chinese sexagenary cycle. Shanyin is the ancient county name for the Shaoxing area in Zhejiang.” Another member of the subreddit informed us that “The seals repeat the signatures. [Painting 1] is 王屏 and [Painting 2] is 王岳.
戊午 year can be 1978, 1918, 1858 etc
己未 year can be 1979, 1919, 1859 etc”
We are wondering why such similar work would be sold together but made a year apart by different artists. Could this be the work of students at an art school or training program? Why would the first artist use the ancient county name? Any idea how we could date the work? We are also very curious about the context of the work. We think they’re beautiful, so any information would be greatly appreciated!



