Three scenes from festivals of the twelve months
Not on view
These two paintings almost certainly once belonged to a set of hanging scrolls or a multipanel screen. While the complete suite may or may not have illustrated a continuous narrative, this pair clearly relates to legendary immortals honored in seasonal festivals.
The painting on the left depicts the Qixi Festival that celebrates the rendezvous of a cowherd and a weaver maiden on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Having been banished to opposite sides of the Milky Way, they reunite on a sky bridge formed by a flock of magpies, as seen in the scroll’s top register. The couple holding hands in a lavish garden setting in the foreground may refer to the Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–56) and his lover Yang Guifei (719–756), who famously pledged their eternal love on this night.
The painting on the right illustrates the physical and spiritual ascension of the lunar goddess Chang’e from her earthly home to the moon, which is celebrated at the Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. A blue circular portal in the upper register reveals the newly arrived goddess in a red robe enjoying music in celestial company. The white rabbit in front, working a mortar and pestle to make an elixir, is a mythical denizen of the moon.
