Immortals playing weiqi on Penglai
date: label: Date
content: second half of the 16th century -17th century
label: Period
content: Ming dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Formerly attributed to Leng Qian (14th century)
notes: label: Label
content: According to its title, this short scroll depicts an idyllic scene on the island of Penglai, the mythological home of Daoist divinities and immortals located in the ocean east of China. However, there is little in the painting itself that suggests the grandeur of such an otherworldly paradise. Instead, the elegant but comparatively modest pavilion epitomizes a wealthy scholar's private retreat in the mundane world. In the window of a room overlooking the water, two men in scholar's robes play the board game weiqi, better known by its Japanese name, go. Providing philosophical paradigms for military strategy, the structure of society, and mankind's place in the cosmos, weiqi was considered one of the polite arts with which every true gentleman and lady should be familiar and was commonly portrayed as a pastime among the immortals. Along an adjacent corridor, a woman brings the players a plate of magical peaches, the food of immortality.
label: Label
content: On the tree trunk at far left, the painting bears a spurious signature of the shadowy, fourteenth-century Daoist adept, Leng Qian, who was a follower of Li Sixun (651-716/18), originator of the blue-and-green style of landscape painting. In the sixteenth century, Qiu Ying (ca. 1494-1552), the premier Ming dynasty specialist in this style, once copied a scroll that claimed to be Leng's original work, and the current painting, in turn, is a skillfully executed copy of Qiu Ying's reinterpretation of that now-lost composition.
label: Provenance
content: To 1911
label: Provenance
content: Riu Cheng Chai, Beijing, to 1911 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1911 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Riu Cheng Chai 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 Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 726, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history; see Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details.
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: Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
label: Exhibition History
content: East of Eden: Gardens in Asian Art (February 24 to May 13, 2007)
label: Exhibition History
content: Palaces and Pavilions: Grand Architecture in Chinese Painting (September 29, 2002 to March 30, 2003)
label: Exhibition History
content: Bicentennial Exhibition: Chinese Art (December 5, 1975 to November 10, 1976)
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: Exhibition History
content: A Selection of Art Objects from the Freer Collection Exhibited in the New Building of the National Museum (April 15 to June 15, 1912)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Riu Cheng Chai (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: playing
label: Topic
content: Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
label: Topic
content: go
label: Topic
content: Penglai
label: Topic
content: pavilion
label: Topic
content: Daoist Immortals
label: Topic
content: lake
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: blue-and-green style
label: Topic
content: makimono
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: F1911.188
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: 29.6 x 100.2 cm (11 5/8 x 39 7/16 in)