In 1689 the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662 – 1722), a Manchu whose forebears had conquered China in 1644, made a grand tour to consolidate his authority over southern China. The renowned landscapist Wang Hui was commissioned to record the journey in a series of twelve oversize handscrolls. This scroll, the third in the set, highlights the emperor’s visit to Mount Tai, China’s “Sacred Peak of the East.” Although Wang based his design on maps and woodblock prints — he never visited the mountain — he also connected specific sites with imaginary landscape passages inspired by classical precedents and employed a traditional “blue-and-green” palette to underscore the emperor’s beneficent rule.
#7610. The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour, Scroll Three: Ji'nan to Mount Tai
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Frontispiece, Section 1
Section 2
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Section 5
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Section 17
Detail
Detail
Entire handscroll
Artwork Details
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清 王翬等 康熙南巡圖 （卷三: 濟南至泰山） 卷
Title:The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour, Scroll Three: Ji'nan to Mount Tai
Artist:Wang Hui (Chinese, 1632–1717) and assistants
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:datable to 1698
Culture:China
Medium:Handscroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions:Image: 26 3/4 in. x 45 ft. 8 3/4 in. (67.9 x 1393.8 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1979
Object Number:1979.5a–d
Inscription: No Artist’s inscription, signature, or seal
Site names inscribed on the painting
Unidentified artist, 6 columns in standard script, undated:
Ji'nan Prefecture City 濟南府城 Kaishan Temple 開山廟 Zhangxia 章夏 Mount Tai 泰山 Tai’an Township 泰安州 Mengyin District 蒙陰縣
Label strip
Unidentified artist, 1 column in standard script (affixed to the brocade flap), undated:
南巡圖第三卷，從濟南府經泰安州致禮泰山
Preface
Unidentified artist, 8 columns in standard script, undated:
The third scroll respectfully depicts His Majesty during his stopover in Jinan, when he ascended the city wall to make his inspection. The entire populace raised their hands to their foreheads in salutation and rejoiced to behold the imperial countenance. Next, the imperial procession traveled on by mountain roads until it arrived at Tai’an Prefecture. His Majesty then specially led all of the officials in his retinue in a ceremony to honor Mount Tai. At that time, the spirit of the mountain manifested auspicious signs: the serried peaks stood forth and the cloud-cloaked trees presented an elegant scene, while the elders of Tai’an filled the streets with song and dance. The grandeur of Mount Tai, with the incredible winding mountain paths of this area of Lu, is only roughly sketched here in “red and green”; regrettably, we lack the ability to describe even a minute part of its magnificence.
[Translation by Maxwell K. Hearn from Wen C. Fong, Chin-Sung Chang, and Maxwell K. Hearn; edited by Maxwell K. Hearn, Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717), New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008, p, 151.]
Unidentified, 1 column in standard script, undated; 1 seal:
南巡圖第三卷 康熙二十八年己巳正月 [印]： 天府珍藏
The inscription on the box reads, “Southern Inspection Tour, three. First month of the twenty-eighth year of the Kangxi period [1689].”
[ Tingchen Zhang , Hong Kong, about 1979; sold to MMA]
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Sacred Mountains in Chinese Art," November 9–December 16, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sacred Mountains in Chinese Art," January 25–March 31, 1991.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "When the Manchus Ruled China: Painting under the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911)," February 2–August 18, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Journeys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art," February 10–August 26, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717)," September 9, 2008–January 4, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from The Met Collection (Rotation One)," October 31, 2015–October 11, 2016.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Up Close," January 25, 2020–June 27, 2021.
de Montebello, Philippe, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1975–1979. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979, pp. 85–86.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983, p. 264, fig. 51.
Morris, Edwin T. The Gardens of China: History, Art and Meanings. New York: Scribner, 1983, p. 156.
Feng Jinbo 馮金伯. Guochao huashi 國朝畫識 (Notes on paintings and painters of the Qing dynasty). Dated 1794. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 10, pp. 596, 623.
Li Yufen 李玉棻. Ouboluo Shi shuhua guomu kao 甌缽羅室書畫過目考 (Writings on calligraphies and paintings seen at the Ouboluo Studio). Dated 1897. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 12, pp. 1073, 1076.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012, pp. 100–101.
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