Su Wu Tending Sheep as Lady Wang Zhaojun Passes By

first half of the 18th century

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

This extraordinary composition combines into a continuous narrative the stories of two historical figures separated by time and geography. They have in common a long exile in the Mongolian wilderness, the site of conflict between the nomadic Xiongnu people and Han China (206 B.C.–A.D. 220). Su Wu (ca. 140–ca. 60 B.C.), pictured with grazing goats in the lower right, went to the Xiongnu as an imperial envoy in 100 B.C. Upon refusing to shift his allegiance, he was banished to Lake Baikal in modern Siberia to herd rams. Holding his emissary staff, he gazes across a frigid river at a female rider surrounded by nomadic horsemen. She is Wang Zhaojun (ca. 52–ca. 15 B.C.), chosen (through trickery) to be married off to the Xiongnu chieftain to cement a political alliance in 33 B.C. Su Wu eventually returned home, after nineteen years, but Zhaojun died in the foreign land.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

清華喦蘇武昭君圖卷
Title: Su Wu Tending Sheep as Lady Wang Zhaojun Passes By
Artist: Hua Yan (Chinese, 1682–1756)
Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date: first half of the 18th century
Culture: China
Medium: Handscroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Image: 8 x 22 1/8 in. (20.4 x 56.2 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Lent by a private collection
Curatorial Department: Asian Art