Red Thread Steals a Gold Box 紅線盜盒圖

Object Details

• Artist

  Formerly attributed to Zhou Wenjing (傳)周文靖 (active 1430s-1460s)

• Label

  Based on the box she is carryong, the woman depicted in the painting is not the famous Mulan, but rather Red Thread (Hong Xian 紅線), heroine of a famous Tang dynasty story (quanqi), translated in The Golden Casket: Chinese Novellas of Two Millenia (Penguin, ), pp. 148–55.

• Provenance

  To 1911

  Wen Yaw-sai, China, to 1911 [1]

  From 1911 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Wen Yaw-sai, in China, 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. 824, 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

  Women in Chinese Painting (November 9, 2013 to April 27, 2014)

  Tales of the Brush: Chinese Painting with Literary Themes (February 9 to July 27, 2008)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Wen Yaw-sai (C.L. Freer source)

  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

  1800s, 1890s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yaw-sai, Wen

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Portraits, Woman

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings