[MSN] A Silken Mountain of Forgery. IN 1957 the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, snagged what appeared to be a rare masterpiece by the 10th-century Chinese painter Guan Tong. But not long after the acquisition, doubts began to creep in.

[MSN]

A Silken Mountain of Forgery
By MILES UNGER

IN 1957 the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, snagged what appeared to be a rare masterpiece by the 10th-century Chinese painter Guan Tong. Not only was “Drinking and Singing at the Foot of a Precipitous Mountain” a spectacular example of the monumental landscape tradition — a view of cloud-dappled peaks, densely forested slopes and swirling waters — but the painting’s pedigree also seemed impeccable. Inscriptions on the worn, fragile silk indicated that through the centuries it had been among the treasured possessions of princes, emperors and connoisseurs. The latest of those collectors was Zhang Daqian, then in his 50s, one of the pre-eminent authorities on Chinese art and a renowned painter in his own right.

But not long after the acquisition, doubts began to creep in. They centered on this man whose stature had gone a long way toward authenticating the work. Many of the masterpieces that passed through Zhang’s hands seemed too good to be true, including another painting purchased by the museum, a Bodhisattva from the sixth century that, if authentic, would have been the oldest surviving painting on silk. That Zhang was a skilled painter merely added to the growing suspicion. Subjected to renewed scrutiny and scientific testing, many of these paintings were shown to have been executed by Zhang and passed off as the work of long-dead masters.

Among the disgraced works was “Drinking and Singing at the Foot of a Precipitous Mountain.” Long absent from museum walls, Zhang’s great fake is now the centerpiece of “Zhang Daqian: Painter, Collector, Forger at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” a small exhibition that highlights the many facets of this complex man’s career as scholar, collector, and, most intriguingly, master forger.

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