A VERY FINE LANDSCAPE PAINTING WITH SCHOLARS ON SILK

Description:

China, ca. 18th c.
125 x 53 (147,5 x 65) cm R.
Elegant literati meeting in the west garden, framed under glass, ink and colors on silk. The 'Elegant Literati Meeting in the West Garden' is a popular theme in Chinese painting and depicts a legendary gathering of sixteen leading scholars and artists in 1087, which took place in the garden of the imperial son-in-law and art lover Wang Shen in the west of the capital Bianliang (Kaifeng). One of the participants, the painter Li Gonglin, painted a picture of the meeting, while another, Mi Fu, described the picture in detail. Only this text has survived and makes it possible to identify all sixteen participants of the meeting in later pictures. The poet Su Shi is sitting at the lower left table, writing a poem, while the host of the meeting, Wang Shen, sits at the front of the table. Two other scholars are watching. At the other table on the top right, the painter Li Gonglin is in the process of sketching the picture of the meeting; he also has three interested spectators. On the left, the famous calligrapher Mi Fu can be seen writing characters on a rock face. At the top, in a bamboo grove, the monk Tanxiu explains the basics of Chan Buddhism to another participant in the meeting. Very fine painting with extremely lively, individual portraits of the participants of the meeting.
Collection Prof. Dr. Hermann Schröder (1902-1991), Aachen, and expanded by his family - Minor wear, few age tears/creases stabilized behind glass, mounting with slight water stains