The Peach Festival of the Queen Mother of the West

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At A Glance

Period

17th-18th century
Geography

China
Material

Ink and color on silk
Dimension

H x W (image): 56.6 x 638.1 cm (22 5/16 x 251 1/4 in)
Accession Number

F1908.170
EDAN ID

edanmdm:fsg_F1908.170

Object Details

Artist

Formerly attributed to Fang Chunnian (ca. 1225-1264)
Description

Yellow frontispiece paper with a five-clawed dragon, clouds and a flaming pearl. Total of 21 seals, signature, eight colophons. Carved white jade clasp. SI label and Freer labels on exterior of scroll. Housed in a wooden box with a sliding cover (inscribed in gold).

The painting depicts a multitude of Daoist immortals, accompanied by animals and attendants, journeying by various means across a "blue and green style" landscape and an ocean, to visit the Queen Mother of the West on the occasion of her birthday. It also depicts the palace in the clouds, the gardens containing the peaches of immortality, musicians, the cranes of immortality dancing, and a field of the fungi of immortality. At the end of the scroll, a group gathers on a terrace to welcome the Queen Mother.
Signatures

Signature
Marks

21 seals, eight colophons. SI label and Freer labels on exterior of scroll.
Label

The Queen Mother of the West was one of the most important goddesses of the traditional Chinese pantheon. She dwelt in the Kunlun Mountains, located south of the Takla Makan desert in western China, where according to legend she was visited over the centuries by a number of emperors and Daoist masters seeking the esoteric doctrines that confer immortality. Her most famous encounter reportedly occurred in 110 B.C.E., when she journeyed to the court of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (reigned 141-87 B.C.E.) and presented him with several magical peaches, which ripen only once every three thousand years. Said to confer immortality when eaten, these special peaches became the most common attribute of the Queen Mother. According to early sources, the peaches of immortality grow not only in the mountain home of the goddess, but also on certain mythological islands in the ocean east of China, where other gods and immortals reside. It is unclear which of these locations is depicted in the current scroll.

The painting shows various groups assembling to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday. Several palace women and young boys can be seen harvesting ripe peaches at the right end of the displayed section, as an imperial figure and attendant courtiers promenade on a terrace overlooking the small grove. Other male figures appear in the doors and windows of the main palace behind them, while the more distant buildings are populated by women practicing various musical instruments for the approaching celebration. At left, another group of women has ascended a high platform to await the arrival of the goddess from the air.

This lavishly illustrated handscroll was probably produced by a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century workshop that specialized in high-end reproductions of famous works. The scroll bears a spurious signature of Fang Chunnian, who served in the imperial painting academy of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) and was praised for his depictions of Daoist immortals and Buddhist deities in landscape settings. The Peach Festival is the best-known painting associated with his name.
Provenance

Collection of an Imperial Duke in Peking [1]

To 1908

Isaac Taylor Headland (1859-1942), Beijing, China, and Alliance, OH, to 1908 [2]

From 1908 to 1919

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Isaac Taylor Headland in 1908 [3]

From 1920

Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

Notes:

[1] According to an undated note signed by Isaac Taylor Headland (see Curatorial Remark 6, H.E. Buckman, 1963). 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 Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 610, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[3] See note 2.

[4] 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

Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

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)

Untitled Exhibition, Art Society of Pittsburgh, 1908 (1908)
Previous custodian or owner

Isaac Taylor Headland (1859-1942) (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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