Courtesans with fan and flute
date: label: Date
content: 17th-18th century
label: Period
content: Qing dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Formerly attributed to Zhang Gui (active mid-12th century)
notes: label: Label
content: In the In the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, visits to urban pleasure quarters were a regular occurrence in upper-class life. For educated men, an interlude with a courtesan was a time to shake off official duties and Confucian responsibilities, and they enjoyed being entertained by witty and artistically talented women who played chess, wrote poetry, danced, and knew music. This painting of a young woman who suggestively holds a flute is charged with sexual innuendo. Her companion, a more senior courtesan, holds a rose in a gesture that frequently appears in erotic Chinese paintings.
label: Provenance
content: To 1916
label: Provenance
content: Li Wenqing (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai, to 1916 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1916 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Li Wenqing, in New York, in 1916 [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] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 1279, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, LVC Catalogue, 1915, No. 76.
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: Women in Chinese Painting (November 9, 2013 to April 27, 2014)
label: Exhibition History
content: Virtue and Entertainment: Chinese Music in the Visual Arts (October 1, 2005 to May 29, 2006)
label: Exhibition History
content: Ancient Chinese Paintings, Sculptures, and Jade Objects from the Collection formed by Charles Lang Freer (November 15 to December 08, 1917)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Li Wenqing 李文卿 (ca. 1869-1931) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: rose
label: Topic
content: playing
label: Topic
content: music
label: Topic
content: Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
label: Topic
content: woman
label: Topic
content: fan
label: Topic
content: flute
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
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: F1916.107
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 156.2 x 88.8 cm (61 1/2 x 34 15/16 in)