Palace ladies watching the sunset
date: label: Date
content: 16th-17th century
label: Period
content: Ming dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Formerly attributed to Zhao Boju (ca. 1120s-ca.1162)
notes: label: Label
content: This painting shows a generic palace constructed at the foot of towering mountains. On a terrace behind the gates of the compound, several palace ladies have gathered to watch the sunset (or sunrise) as it reddens the skies and waters. Flecks of gold added to the paint augment the dazzling effect. The painting bears the spurious signature of Zhao Boju, an imperial relative who worked in the academy at the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) court. A specialist in the blue-and-green style originated almost five centuries earlier by Li Sixun (651-716/18), himself a member of the Tang imperial family, Zhao was especially renowned for his detailed depictions of palaces and other architectural motifs in landscape settings. No original works by Li or Zhao survive and, other than the most superficial of connections, neither the execution nor the design of this scroll bear any particular relationship to the extant compositions more plausibly attributed to either man. Instead, this painting falls into the general category of works that derive from the mid-Ming dynasty resurrection of the meticulous landscape and architecture style ushered in by the famous painter Qiu Ying (ca. 1494-1552). Judging from the quality of the materials and the skillful but somewhat uninspired execution of the work, this painting was probably the product of a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century workshop and was intended for the collection of an affluent patron.
label: Provenance
content: To 1911
label: Provenance
content: Shir Gu Sai, China, to 1911 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1911 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Shir Gu Sai, in China, in 1911 [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 Reserve Panel List, R. 19, L. 908, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
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: Palaces and Pavilions: Grand Architecture in Chinese Painting (September 29, 2002 to March 30, 2003)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Shir Gu Sai (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: landscape
label: Topic
content: Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)
label: Topic
content: palace
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: F1911.540
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): 127.1 x 30 cm (50 1/16 x 11 13/16 in)