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A Note on Chinese and Japanese Artists' Names and Attributions

Many artists will use a pen-name or courtesy name--hao (號)--rather than their given name to sign their works. Typically these are self-selected and even sometimes whimsical. Many artists will use a variety of names depending on the nature of the work. The seals associated with these names may also differ significantly from the pen-name or the artist's given name. (For more on seals see Seal Book below.) Thus identification of an artist based solely on a signature or a seal is not always as straight forward as one might think. In the following pages below you will find a variety of examples: Li Guande (李冠德) and Huang Shengchen (黄生辰) have signed their works using their given names. Shanjudaoren (山居道人 = Mountain Dwelling Taoist)--is clearly a pen-name. Wang Jiashan (王佳山) typically signs his paintings with just Jiashan (佳山) as does Wang Dachuan (王大川) whose signature and seal is always just Dachuan(大川) with no surname. In transliterating names pinyin has almost always been used and forenames as well as pen-names are usually written as one word (i.e., Dachuan rather than Da Chuan).

In Japanese, art-names or pen-names 雅号(gagō) are used in a similar fashion. Artists may sometimes change them at stages of their career, usually to mark significant changes in their life. Such names may also be reused by different artists thus making attributions quite difficult. During one period Hokusai used six different art-names and Buson used thirty-six.

Attributions of these art works are based on the artists' signatures and/or seals as well as information from dealers or the artists themselves. While I believe most of these items to be genuine, there are several of dubious origin. For example, the paintings attributed to Wu Guanzhong and the calligraphy attributed to Wang Ti (Fuan) are all clearly spurious. The paper is not old enough and the brush strokes are not vigourous enough. However,some of these pieces were purchased or commissioned directly from the artists and so attribution is really not a question. Many of these artists are not well known or heavily collected so any monetary reward from forging their works would be negligible. In any case of questionable attribution I have indicated this by using the VRA tag "Creator.Attribution: style of" in the metadata record that accomplanies each work. China and Japan both have a long, even venerable, tradition of copying art works for a variety of puposes, many legitimate. In the case of some very old forgeries, the fake has itself become valued as an art object. For more information about this topic see:

• Sweet, Belinda. Authenticating Zen Paintings
  
• "Reproduction and Forgery in Chinese Calligraphy," in Shen C. Y. Fu's Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligraphy (Yale University Art Gallery, 1977), pp. 3-39.

• Engraved Seals:
  • Qing Dynasty (1644-1912)-Republic (1912-1949)
    • Official Seals
  • 20th Century
• Plain Seals (section in progress)
  • With Inscriptions
  • Without Inscriptions