‘BAMBOO AND BUTTERFLIES’, BY QI GONG (1912-2005)China. Ink and watercolors on paper. With a silk brocade frame, mounted as a hanging scroll. Finely painted in varying shades of green with leafy stalks of bamboo and two red butterflies playfully flying below.Inscriptions: Upper right, signed ‘Jianjingweng Qi Gong’ and inscribed with a poem. One seal of the artist.The poem inscribed on this painting can be translated as follows:The green bamboo shoots from the earth and supports the sky,One cannot take them in the hand as a fishing rod,The leaves and the branches are so long and get tangled,It is so difficult to remove the superfluous leaves and branches.Provenance: British trade.Condition: Very good condition with only minor wear and little foxing.Dimensions: Image size 82 cm x 33 cmQi Gong (1912-2005), whose artist name was Jianjingweng, was a descendant of the Yongzheng Emperor through his son Hongzhou. formally known as Prince He. He grew up in extreme poverty but learned Chinese calligraphy in his childhood and studied various historical stone inscriptions of calligraphy. Qi Gong was versatile in all writing styles, especially the regular script (kaishu), the running hand (xingshu), and the cursive script (caoshu).Auction resultparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: San Francisco, 21 June 2011, lot 8396Price: USD 13,420 or approx.EUR 16,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: Qi Gong (1912-2005), Green BambooExpert remark:pare the closely related motif and fine details. Note the size (94 x 46 cm).啓功 (1912-2005)款《翠竹》中國，紙本水墨設色，掛軸。翠竹濃淡相宜，明淨無塵，清勁秀潤；蝴蝶飛舞，手法生動，色彩鮮明。款識：拔地擎天翠色寒，未能入手作魚竿。絲綸百尺牽纏處，縟葉繁枝剪難。堅淨翁啓功；鈴印：啓功之印