Activities of the Twelve Months (The Seventh Month)
- Court artists, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
- Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 175 x 97.2 cm
Depictions of the months are a kind of traditional Chinese genre painting. Twelve scrolls for the twelve months each were done by court painters at the Qing dynasty court. Bearing neither seal or signature, they are mostly landscape settings with "ruled-line" elements and figures using one-point perspective based on scenery originally at the Old Summer Palace. They show various activities associated with each month. In the paintings, rolling corridors connect the heavy roofs of palatial buildings to present the form and majesty of Qing imperial architecture.
This painting illustrates the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, known as Double Seventh Day and colloquially as "Chinese Valentine's Day." It depicts women setting up a table with incense to pray for dexterity in needlework, referring to the weaving maid and cowherd of mythology. According to legend, only on the night of the Double Seventh are the doomed lovers able to meet. They cross the Milky Way to reunite on a bridge of magpies formed by each holding onto the tail feathers of the one in front; this is perhaps why magpies are shown in the woods in this painting.
Peach Blossoms in Color
- Chen Hongshou (1599-1652), Ming dynasty
- Folding fan mounted as an album leaf, ink and colors on paper, 18 x 53.7 cm
Chen Hongshou (style name Zhanghou, sobriquet Laolian), a native of Zhuji in Zhejiang, took the sobriquets Huichi ("Regretfully Late"), Wuchi ("Not Be Late"), and Yunmenseng ("Cloud Gate Monk") after the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644.
This leaf, which originally was a folding fan, comes from "Album of Collected Fan Paintings by Ming Artists" and is dated to the equivalent of 1622, making it an early work by Chen. In the painting is an old tree enveloped in mist and tied with a branch of peach blossoms. From the artist's inscription, we learn he painted this fan with peach blossoms to playfully cite from Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring" and present it as a gift to Shen Xiangru, who was departing to take office in Wuling. Chen's poem reads, "The distinguished Prefect rides a 'jade' piebald, tying a bridle knot on the road to Peach Blossom Spring not far away. Leaving me behind with falling blossoms I paint while drunk, for Wang Xiang has gone to meet his Zhou Yao." This work was thus a gift among literati.
Calligraphy Fan
- Shen Quan (1624-1686), Qing dynasty
- Jiang Chenying (1628-1699), Qing dynasty
- Folding fans mounted as an album leaf, ink on paper, 16.4 x 51.8 cm
Shen Quan (style name Zhenrui; sobriquets Yitang, Chongzhai), a native of Huating (modern Shanghai) in Jiangsu, was summoned to the court in 1670 on account of his skill in calligraphy, the following year being appointed as Expositor-in-Waiting and serving in the Southern Study of the emperor. Jiang Chenying (style name Qingming, sobriquet Zhanyuan), a native of Cixi in Zhejiang, was a Presented Scholar of 1697.
This leaf, featuring two works that were originally folding fans, comes from "Fans of Calligraphy by Famous Figures." The work at the top by Shen Quan is a seven-character regulated verse entitled "In Gratitude to Attendant Censor Li for Kindly Engraving Several Books." In running script, it was composed by Wang Shizhen (1526-1590) of the Ming dynasty and done by Shen Quan for "Elder Official Longweng." The fan below by Jiang Chenying features a five-character regulated verse entitled "On Descending Beigu Mountain" by Wang Wan (693-751) of the Tang dynasty and done for "Elder Poet-Brother Yongjia." Both works reflect the influence of Dong Qichang's (1555-1636) style of calligraphy admired in the early Qing dynasty.