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LOTS 1638 - 1639
FROM THE COLLECTION OF T.S. MURTY
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Timaraju Sriram Murty (1927-1987) was a brilliant student, entering college at the age of 13 and received his B.A. (honours) and M.A. by the age of 18. When he was 20 he won a Government of India scholarship to work on his Ph.D. at National Peking University and to become fluent in Chinese.
Arriving in Beijing in 1947 with a group of 11 other Indian students, T. S. Murty participated in many meetings arranged by the Indian Embassy to introduce these students to prominent Chinese intellectuals, politicians, academics, writers and artists. One of these meetings was arranged at the home and studio of Qi Baishi. T.S. Murty called on Qi Baishi many times after that to talk about art with him and other artists who participated in Qi Baishi's "salon." Around the time of his 21st birthday, he was presented with several paintings in honour of this special occasion by Qi Baishi and his friends. The gifts included a painting of a magpie and red prunus blossoms by Qi Baishi (Lot 1639), a painting of bamboo branches by Qi Gong (Lot 1638), a caricature of himself at 21 by Ye Qianyu (Fig. 1), and a scroll by Zhang Yuzao, a student of Qi Baishi's. Following his return to India in 1950, these paintings were treasured by T.S. Murty and were taken everywhere he went on postings during a thirty-five year career in India's civil service (Fig. 2). He was appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a specialist on China in 1950. He later joined the newly created Indian Frontier Administrative Service in 1956, and spent the rest of his career primarily in the frontier areas of North-East India. He became Chief Secretary of Tripura in 1977, head of the state's civil service, and retired in 1985 as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, where he was responsible for the co-ordination of federal responsibilities in N.E. India.
Although his career shifted from that of being a Chinese analyst to that of a specialist on North East India, T.S. Murty was on occasion called back by the foreign office to work on issues relating to China. In 1960 he returned to Beijing for three months to act as Advisor to the Indian delegation participating in the Sino-Indian border talks. In 1966, when the Indian Government was considering reopening their embassy in Beijing, closed after the 1962 hostilities, T.S. Murty was offered the position of Charge d'Affaires and the responsibility of reopening and heading up the Embassy until full diplomatic relations were restored, although he was unable to accept the appointment at that time. T.S. Murty was also a serious academic who published 5 books and numerous academic articles on N. E. India development and frontier issues. He was awarded a fellowship to Oxford in 1969-70 to work on "Frontiers," his second book, and a Nehru Fellowship, India's highest academic honour, in 1981.
QI BAISHI (1863-1957)
Magpie on Plum Blossom
Details
QI BAISHI (1863-1957)
Magpie on Plum Blossom
Inscribed and signed, with one seal of the artist
Dated wuzi year (1948)
Dedicated to Ding Muqi
Hanging scroll, ink and colour on paper
102.5 x 33.7 cm. (40 3/8 x 13 1/4 in.)
Magpie on Plum Blossom
Inscribed and signed, with one seal of the artist
Dated wuzi year (1948)
Dedicated to Ding Muqi
Hanging scroll, ink and colour on paper
102.5 x 33.7 cm. (40 3/8 x 13 1/4 in.)
Brought to you by
Ben Kong
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