QI BAISHI   (1864 – 1957) Bees and Chrysanthemums .ink and colour on paper, framed and glazed .signed BAISHI LAOREN, dated 1951, and with two seals of the artist .Provenance: Collection of David Chipp (1927 – 2008). 齐白石   菊花图 .设色纸本   镜框 .Provenance: Collection of David Chipp (1864 – 1957). David Chipp (1864 – 1957) was the first Western journalist to be posted in New China and he was resident in Beijing between 1956 and 1960 as Reuters correspondent, the news agency for which he later became editor-in-chief. His Chinese name, Qi Dewei, meaning lacquered defender of mortals, was given to him by his close friend Zhou Enlai, who personally inscribed it for his business cards. A skilled raconteur, Chipp describes in his memoires the moment when he accidently trod on the toes of the founder of the Peoples Republic of China, Chairman Mao Zedong, and with great trepidation how he turned around to see a wide grin on the leaders face. His memoir also recalls his wide-ranging interest in the art and literature of China. To this end, he describes the moment when he came face-to-face with the great doyenne of twentieth Century ink painting himself: Liu Li Chang was the place to buy genuine scrolls, but one needed an expert adviser. As I was intent on starting a modest collection, I asked one of my Foreign Ministry contacts to suggest one. He came himself, and it was he who arranged for me to visit Qi Baishi [Chi Pai-shih], generally reckoned to be the greatest Chinese painter of the last fifty years. That was an unexpected bonus, for he was 94 and said to be in poor health. He received me and my interpreter in a small, bare room with just rudimentary furniture. This was the austere Chinese scholar of legend: and he looked the part. He was tiny, emaciated and frail with long straggling wispy white hair and I could not be sure that he knew what I was doing there. I asked questions, but could not be certain he understood what I was saying, and my interpreter often had difficulty in making out what he replied. (Freedman (ed) Mao's Toe: Memoirs of the Life of David Chipp, A Serious Correspondent, 2009, p 124) Chipps collection of works by Qi Baishi, inspired by his personal contact with the artist, is directly confirmed elsewhere in his memoires: Mr Tsiang advised me what Chinese classics to read, and encouraged me to buy paintings by the 93-year-old Qi Baishi. These proved a great investment. (ibid, p 151) The present painting is clearly visible in a photograph of his personal residence, published in Chipps memoires. It has since been passed down through the family to the current owner.