Palace Ladies Watching the Sunset

Object Details

• Artist

  Formerly attributed to Zhao Boju (ca. 1120s-ca.1162)

• Label

  This painting shows a generic palace constructed at the foot of towering mountains. On a terrace behind the gates of the compound, several palace ladies have gathered to watch the sunset (or sunrise) as it reddens the skies and waters. Flecks of gold added to the paint augment the dazzling effect. The painting bears the spurious signature of Zhao Boju, an imperial relative who worked in the academy at the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) court. A specialist in the blue-and-green style originated almost five centuries earlier by Li Sixun (651-716/18), himself a member of the Tang imperial family, Zhao was especially renowned for his detailed depictions of palaces and other architectural motifs in landscape settings. No original works by Li or Zhao survive and, other than the most superficial of connections, neither the execution nor the design of this scroll bear any particular relationship to the extant compositions more plausibly attributed to either man. Instead, this painting falls into the general category of works that derive from the mid-Ming dynasty resurrection of the meticulous landscape and architecture style ushered in by the famous painter Qiu Ying (ca. 1494-1552). Judging from the quality of the materials and the skillful but somewhat uninspired execution of the work, this painting was probably the product of a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century workshop and was intended for the collection of an affluent patron.

• Provenance

  To 1911

  Shir Gu Sai, China, to 1911 [1]

  From 1911 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Shir Gu Sai, in China, in 1911 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Reserve Panel List, R. 19, L. 908, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [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

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Shir Gu Sai (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1500s

• Name

  Sai, Shir Gu, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Landscapes, Art, Palace, Chinese Art, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings