Pear Blossoms, ca. 1280 Qian Xuan (ca. 1235–before 1307) Handscroll; ink and color on paper; 12 1/4 x 37 1/2 in. (31.1 x 95.3 cm) Ex coll.: Sir Percival David Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1977 (1977.79) What is this image about? To the left of his painting of Pear Blossoms, Qian Xuan juxtaposed a poem that hints at the true subject of his image: The lonely tear-stained face, teardrops washing the branches. Though now without makeup, her old charms remain. Behind the closed gate, on a rainy night, how she is filled with sadness, How differently she looked bathed in golden waves of moonlight, before darkness fell. Next Back