Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion

Object Details

• Artist

  Probably by You Qiu (active ca. 1540-1590)

  Formerly attributed to Li Gonglin (傳)李公麟 (ca. 1049-1106)

• Label

  On the third day in the third lunar month of 353 C.E., which corresponded to April 22, the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-361 C.E.), along with forty friends and family members, traveled some ten kilometers from the town of Kuaiji (modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) to the picturesque Orchid Pavilion, a private retreat that Wang had built in a nearby mountain valley. Here they celebrated an ancient springtime purification ceremony that had transformed over the centuries into a secular holiday, when people would gather near a body of water to enjoy the scenery, eat and drink together, and compose poetry. At the Orchid Pavilion, a channel had been dug and the local river diverted to form a small meandering stream, along which the participants sat in order of seniority. Cups were floated down the water course, and each member of the group had to compose a poem when a cup arrived at his location, or pay the penalty of drinking three dippers of wine. At the end of the day, thirty-seven poems were collected, and Wang Xizhi, glimpsed in the thatch-roofed pavilion at right, composed a famous preface to record the circumstances of the occasion. A second, more substantial pavilion with a tiled roof and swooping eaves appears in the lower part of the painting.

  The current work is probably by the late-sixteenth-century artist You Qiu, who was the son-in-law and most gifted follower of the artist Qiu Ying (ca. 1494-1552), two of whose seals appear on the painting at lower right. You Qiu is best known for his figure paintings of scholars in garden settings rendered in the baimiao (plain-outline) style of painting seen here, which he executed with great skill and elegance in the tradition of the Northern Song dynasty artist Li Gonglin (ca. 1049-1106), whose forged signature was added on the right side of the painting by a later owner.

• Provenance

  To 1911

  An unnamed private owner, to 1911 [1]

  From 1911 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from an unnamed private owner, through Riu Cheng Chai, Beijing, in 1911 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 802, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history; see Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Old Tales Retold: Narrative in Chinese Painting (April 20 to October 20, 2013)

  Tales of the Brush: Literary Masterpieces in Chinese Painting (July 28, 2007 to January 13, 2008)

  Palaces and Pavilions: Grand Architecture in Chinese Painting (September 29, 2002 to March 30, 2003)

  Ming Dynasty Calligraphy and Painting (February 8, 1985 to August 26, 1985)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1590s, 1500s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Baimiao style, Chinese Art, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings