Scholar in a Boat in a Rain Storm, China, 18th ct., hanging scroll, 216,5 x 61,5 cm, ink and colors on silk. At the lower left two small seals: "Wei yin", the other not legible. A heavy storm is pushing the rain in diagonal showers from the right. The trees are bending deep to the left and stripes of rainy mist are obscuring the landscape. A boat with a scholar pushed by strong waves is just arriving at the shore of a scholar's retreat. The scholar and his boy servant are seeking shelter on the boat under an umbrella and the ferryman in his rain coat tries to land the boat at the shore. Another servant bending against the rain under an umbrella is awaiting the guest on a bridge. A fence in the background behind the trees marks the place as a scholar's garden. The painting is executed in the professional and naturalistic tradition of the so called Zhe school and masterly describes the atmospheric powers of nature and the actions of men. Powerful calligraphic brush strokes depict the rocks and trees and fine lines are rendering the figures giving delicate expression to their faces. The painting is of excellent quality and was done probably in the Qianlong reign in the eighteenth century - Property from a South German private collection, acquired in the 1970s and 1980s -