Selected Chinese Portrait
Paintings
from the Nanjing Museum
The traditional name of Chinese portrait painting is known as xie zhen (true to life portrayal), which suggests a more resemblance of appearance. Chinese portrait painting was separated from figure painting, and for a long time, there was no clear-cut difference between them. The two, emphasis on the introduction of somebody's deeds is called figure painting: the other focusing on the portrayal of somebody's features is known as xie zhen. This catalogue was complied from the collection of the Nanjing Museum by Mr. Zhang Qiya, who also presented a monograph on Chinese portrait painting. Publishers, in the past, emphasized on the Western portrait art o the neglect of the Chinese counterpart . Now the publication of this album is just perfect to fill in the blank of this topic that has long been overlooked, and will provide an excellent reference for study.