Fisherman and Woodsman (after Huang Shen)

This painting bears the signature and seal of Huang Shen, considered one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, an eighteenth-century group of artists known for their fondness of unconventional styles and subject matter. During his lifetime, Huang’s exceptional skill in cursive calligraphy and the ink-play technique, known as moxi in Chinese, earned him a distinguished career. This hanging scroll shows Huang Shen’s trademark techniques, where tremulous brushstrokes outline forms and pale vegetable pigments and ink washes evoke atmosphere.

Yet upon close examination it is replete with examples of poorly executed brush technique, which only superficially approximates Huang’s spontaneous style. Rather than a single bold, controlled stroke, the contour lines of the tree, for example, are formed by several brush strokes. While the cursive inscription that dominates the top of the painting possesses a certain curvaceous vibrancy, the execution is actually very standardized, even studied. Comparison with other published examples of Huang’s paintings reveals further discrepancies in the handwriting, the signature, and use of seals on this painting, all of which further implicate it as a modern forgery meant to deceive the less well-informed viewer into believing that this is an authentic product of Huang’s famous hand.