Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion

Artist Attributed to Wu Wei (Chinese, 1459–1508)

Dateca. 1500

MediumAlbum leaf: ink and colors on silk

Dimensions13 x 26 1/8 in. (33 x 66.4 cm)

CultureChina

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Baekeland

Terms

Calligraphy
Paintings
Albums
Album leaf: ink and colors
Colors
Ink
Silk
Chinese

Object number72.114.002

Label CopyDepicted here is one of the most celebrated events in Chinese literary history: the poetry contest held in the year 353 at the Orchid Pavilion and recorded for posterity by the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303-379). On a spring day that year, the leading scholars in the region were assembled along the banks of a garden stream to practice the arts of poetry and calligraphy in a friendly competition, assisted by attendants who floated cups of wine on lotus leaves downstream to provide the necessary stimulation. The subject of this gathering was especially popular with certain painters of the Ming Dynasty who took an avid interest in reviving literati themes. Wu Wei was one such painter. This painting comes from an album where each leaf focuses on one of the famous contestants at the literati gathering. The Museum has two other leaves from this album. (For reference, see “A Handbook of the Collection: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art," 1998)

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