The Chinese Emperor Minghuang and his concubine Yang Guifei, with attendants on a terrace
date: label: Date
content: 16th century
label: Period
content: Muromachi or Momoyama period
name: label: Artist
content: Kano Eitoku 狩野永徳 (1543-1590)
notes: label: Label
content: Few works of Chinese literature have so enthralled the Japanese people as The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, a narrative poem by the Chinese poet Bo Juyi (772-846) of the Tang dynasty (618-907). The poem recounts the tragic story of Emperor Xuanzong (reigned 712-756), commonly known as Minghuang, whose excessive love for his beautiful concubine, Yang Guifei (circa 720-756), led to intrigue at court and disorder in the empire. Yang Guifei was put to death in 756 during the An Lushan uprising. The passionate love and inconsolable grief portrayed in the Chinese poem found a sympathetic reception in the Japanese imperial court of the Heian period (794-1185), where the emotional entanglements of Japanese aristocrats became the theme of The Tale of Genji, an important work of narrative fiction written by a noblewoman, Murasaki Shikibu.
label: Label
content: Many Japanese screen paintings of the Momoyama (1573-1615) and early Edo (1615-1868) periods illustrate the story of Minghuang and Yang Guifei with elegant figures in settings that represent an imaginative and idealized image of the Chinese emperor's household. Here the emperor and his beloved Yang Guifei stand in an open pavilion facing a garden where ladies-in-waiting pull threads attached to the branches of flowering trees. The enduring allure of this story in the Japanese visual and literary arts reflects both a strong emotional identification with its themes of love, death, and longing, and the persistent idea of Tang dynasty China as a cultural golden age.
label: Provenance
content: To 1900
label: Provenance
content: Yamanaka & Company, to 1900 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1900 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1900 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Screen List, L. 34, pg. 6, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. The majority of Charles Lang Freer’s purchases from Yamanaka & Company were made at its New York branch. Yamanaka & Company maintained branch offices, at various times, in Boston, Chicago, London, Peking, Shanghai, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. During the summer, the company also maintained seasonal locations in Newport, Bar Harbor, and Atlantic City.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: The Idea of China in Japan: The Tea Ceremony in Japan (December 19, 1999 to June 11, 2000)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens (October 3, 1947 to November 10, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens and Scrolls, 1946 (April 30, 1946 to October 3, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Screens, 1923 (May 2, 1923 to April 5, 1933)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Muromachi period (1333 - 1573)
label: Topic
content: Momoyama period (1573 - 1615)
label: Topic
content: concubine
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: emperor
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: attendant
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1900.10
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink, color, and gold on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 156.7 x 360.6 cm (61 11/16 x 141 15/16 in)