Portrait of a gentleman gathering chrysanthemums
Hua Guan Chinese
Not on view
The poet Tao Yuanming was a source of inspiration to many scholar-officials, who saw his decision to retire from official life as a righteous stand against ambition and blind adherence to society’s expectations. By the seventeenth century, men began to commission portraits of themselves inhabiting Tao’s role by acting out famous scenes from his poetry. This portrait is by Hua Guan, who worked in elite circles in Beijing during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The sitter, as yet unidentified, plucks chrysanthemums, Tao’s favorite flower.
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