Chuah Thean Teng, Dato’

061

b. China, 1912 - d. 2008
Chuah Thean Teng, Dato’
Two Cockerels and a Hen
c. 1990
signed ‘Teng’ bottom left
mixed media
87 x 87cm
Provenance
Private collection, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; acquired directly from Yahong Art Gallery, Penang.
Estimate
RM 90,000 – 100,000
Price Realised
RM 90,000

LITERATURE
Art and Artists of 20th Century China (Prof Michael Sullivan)
Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng Retrospective (Exhibition, Penang State Art Gallery; curator: Dr Tan Chong Guan, 1994)

Cockerels are not staple themes in Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng’s batiks although he did a few in Chinese ink on rice-paper. The trinity of roosters heralding the morning break and thus a new dawn of endeavour, with the sunbursts on the top section and accents on the reddish coxcombs, plays loosely on the geometric and fluid overlaps. The wings take on an armour-like protection, making the crowing chanticleers symbolic gatekeepers. But the device is more to create an abstract pattern with shimmering highlights, and to show that it is achievable in a batik work with touches of acrylic.