Featured Chinese watercolor on paper board red seal

I have had this for over a year now I think. Some Chinese man at the swap meet I go to is always asking me if I have any Chinese things at home he could buy. I finally took a picture with my phone and showed to him last week and he told me, just a tourist painting. I asked him what does it say, he only said boy and girl birds, I asked about red seal mark, he had no answer. But today he messaged me asking about it, he said he would give me $120. Do Chinese collectors buy to resell or just to collect ? I wonder if this is a good price to sell to him, or does anyone here know exactly what it reads and the seal mark maker. I remember about 4 years ago, I sold a Chinese lady a Chinese lamp for $75, the next week, an American man who knows about antiques and Chinese stuff, told me that the lamp I had was worth about $4,000. I don't want to make the same mistake again.

Thank You

Billy D.

 

@Asian Fever , you are in demand lately. What do you think?

 

the guy who told you 4 k on the lamp......
always take that kind of ...late to the party... info....with a grain of salt..!

 

Do Chinese collectors buy to resell or just to collect ?

Yes to all of the above.

I'm absolutely no help with translating, but have to say this piece is different and nicer than what you normally see, especially as it is a watercolor, not your typical print.

That's a tricky one. $120 might be a fine offer -- or not. Hopefully others will chime in.

 

Heres my perspective on the situation,Billy. NEVER worry about what might have been,we've all sold stuff that was far more valuable than we knew.I would look at it this way,how much did you pay,how long have you had it,and if you took the $120 how ahead of the game would that put you? Could it be some 17th century royal court scroll? possibly,but without tons of research and paying ridiculous amounts for appraisals,how will you ever know ? To quote my dad "a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush".Its lovely,but there are zillions of things like it out there.Just my 2 cents.

 

I have no clue, some paintings go for millions

 

I know that now, just wish he was still around

 

Okay, good way to put it Johnny

 

Any idea how old it is? The calligraphy gives me an old feeling, like looking at embellished German letters before the war. Even the artist stamp has a primitive feel.

 

Is this why we have houses full of unknown items? lol

 

That chop doesn't look like any Chinese writing I recognize, and it doesn't look like a stamp... it looks painted. For all that it looks Chinese, it may not be. I would like to have someone who recognizes the languages to at least confirm that we are looking at an actual inscription.

A long time ago, pictures were posted on the boards that looked Chinese and had oriental-looking inscriptions that turned out to be the signature of a California artist.

 

Could this be Korean?
Patd

 

The scene might be from the far east, but I'm also not getting the sense of color laid down in the technique that would be expected from that region. Far Eastern paintings of this type seem less pictorial, and more calligraphic. The brushwork seems to me to be illustrative in a western fashion.

It looks a little heavy handed to my way of thinking, especially that red in the sky.

Of course. I could be entirely wrong.

 

The painting(or maybe print) is very interesting.
I would like to see the back of this painting. (If you can take more photos of the bird, bird head and dark spots of the rock, that would be great helpful.)

The artist stamp is "Zhou Yuanshi" , however, the stamp is very different from other stamp of this artist, but it is still very likely to be authentic. (Furthermore, the handwriting is also very different from other painting of this artist.)
If it is authentic, it is a republic period painting (1911-1949), the artist is not that famous, but it is still very collectible among Chinese collectors.

You can see the difference between yours and below photos

 

Thanks for answering, Asian. It is clear we need your knowledge on these things.
Republic Period is not my forte, and there were some very significant style changes in different arts in the period. It is an interesting period, no wonder prices are going up for art of that era.

 

They say English is the most difficult language to learn, but I'm glad I don't have to read Chinese.

 

Yeah, Chinese is one of the hardest language for sure. (My son can speak mandarin and other two dialects without any accent, but he can read no more than ten words.) Even you can listen and speak, you still have to make even more efforts to learn how to read and write becuase they are totally different system.And after you learned how to read and write simplified and traditional words, again you will find "OMG, how can so many handwritings fonts come out and each of them looks totally different."

 

I have no idea, maybe 1950's

 

Thanks Asian Fever, it is a watercolor for sure. I used a damp cloth and smeared a little spot softly and some paint came off. here are some a pics and I forgot to show the signature at the bottom which seems a little strange to me.

 

T.espinosa......spinosa..........doesn't sound asian...