Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion
Qian Gu
(Chinese, 1508–ca. 1578)
Period:
Ming
dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:
datable
to 1560
Culture:
China
Medium:
Handscroll;
ink and color on paper
Dimensions:
Image: 9
1/2 x 171 1/2 in. (24.1 x 435.6 cm) Overall with mounting: 9 3/4 x 491 3/8 in.
(24.8 x 1248.1 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
In 353, the renowned calligrapher Wang
Xizhi (307–365) and his friends met at the Orchid Pavilion (at Shanyin, in
modern Zhejiang Province) to celebrate the spring festival of purification.
Sitting by a stream, they held a poetry competition. When the time was up,
eleven men had finished two poems, and fifteen had finished one; the sixteen
who failed to come up with anything (among them, Wang’s son Xianzhi) were
penalized by having to drink three additional cups of wine. In Qian Gu’s
representation of this famous literary event, cups of wine float downstream as
the poets, lined up on both sides, drink freely and struggle to complete their
poems.
Orphaned at an early age, Qian Gu did not receive a formal education until adulthood, when he became a pupil of Wen Zhengming (1470–1559). This painting is modeled after a composition said to have been originated by Li Gonglin (ca. 1049–1106).
Orphaned at an early age, Qian Gu did not receive a formal education until adulthood, when he became a pupil of Wen Zhengming (1470–1559). This painting is modeled after a composition said to have been originated by Li Gonglin (ca. 1049–1106).
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