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Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden
(detail), 1437
After Xie Huan
Handscroll; ink and color
on silk; 14 3/4 x 94 3/4 in. (37.5 x 240.7 cm)
Ex coll.: Weng Tonghe
Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1989
(1989.141.3)
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Painting, calligraphy, and poetry are referred
to as "the three perfections" and are traditionally considered the highest
forms of artistic and intellectual expression in China.
By applying a brush filled with ink or color on either a silk
or paper surface, the Chinese artist and calligrapher could paint or write in
a variety of traditional formats, including handscrolls,
hanging scrolls, albums,
and fans. The artist's primary intention
was not to reproduce or describe the outward appearance of his chosen subject,
whether a landscape, a flower, a bird, or a human being, but to capture its inner
nature or essential spirit. The brushstrokes of a painting were thought also to
reflect the individual artist's state of mind.
An inscription, dedication,
and/or poem might be written directly on a painting by the artist or a close friend.
Comments, called colophons, by later owners
and admirers of a painting are often added on the mounting. These writings are
viewed as a vital part of the work of art and add another level of understanding
and appreciation for a specific work of art. In Elegant Gathering in the Apricot
Garden, each participant at the party composed a colophon that was added to
the completed handscroll, including a preface composed by Yang Shiqi (1365–1444),
the eldest guest in attendance, describing the circumstances of this festive event.
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