Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), was one of the best-known and most prodigious of the 20th century. Originally known as a traditional Chinese painting painter, by the 1960s he was also renowned as a modern impressionist and expressionist painter. Zhang is regarded as one of the most gifted master forgers of the 20th century. Chang’s forgeries are difficult to detect for many reasons. First, his ability to mimic the great Chinese masters:So prodigious was his virtuosity within the medium of Chinese ink and colour that it seemed he could paint anything. His output spanned a huge range, from archaizing works based on the early masters of Chinese painting to the innovations of his late works which connect with the language of Western abstract art. Second, he paid scrupulous attention to the materials he used. “He studied paper, ink, brushes, pigments, seals, seal paste, and scroll mountings in exacting detail. When he wrote an inscription on a painting, he sometimes included a postscript describing the type of paper, the age and the origin of the ink, or the provenance of the pigments he had used.” Third, he often forged paintings based on descriptions in catalogues of lost paintings; his forgeries came with ready-made provenance. Chang’s forgeries have been purchased as original paintings by several major art museums in the United States, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston This painting depicts the Guanyin. The year on the painting is 1944.