The palaces and gate towers of Penglai
date: label: Date
content: 1683
label: Period
content: Qing dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Zhu Dan (mid- to late 17th century)
notes: label: Label
content: The paradise of Penglai is one of the mythological islands that are located in the ocean east of China and inhabited by Daoist deities and immortals. Full of towering peaks, mysterious caves, and gushing waterfalls--and closely associated with the quest for physical immortality--Penglai was the frequent subject of artistic fantasies, such as the painting seen here. In this vision of the magical isle, ornate palaces and pavilions, covered walkways, and opulent belvederes ascend the convoluted mountains from the sea below to their sheer upper slopes.
label: Label
content: The artist Zhu Dan does not appear in any of the usual biographical sources and few of his works were recorded or survive today. Accordingly, both his life dates and the traditional cyclical date in his inscription on this scroll must be interpreted in light of the style and execution of the painting. Judging from the archaic conventions used on the tree trunks and foliage, and Zhu's rendering of the blue-and-green style, in which he employed bandlike areas of color whose boundaries are reinforced by additional ink and gold lines, the scroll may be placed in the late seventeenth century. This in turn establishes the date on the painting as 1683. In his inscription, Zhu further states that it took him three months to complete this monumental work.
label: Provenance
content: To 1909
label: Provenance
content: Loon Gu Sai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1909 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Loon Gu Sai, Beijing, in 1909 [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 Reserved Kakemono List, R. 613, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. According to Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), Loon Gu Sai was possibly Lunguzhai, a store in the antiques district of Liulichang.
label: Provenance
content: 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: Chinese Mountains of Immortality: A Focused Look (April 2 to September 25, 2005)
label: Exhibition History
content: Palaces and Pavilions: Grand Architecture in Chinese Painting (September 29, 2002 to March 30, 2003)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Landscape Painting (November 15, 1980 to March 6, 1981)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Loon 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: Daoism
label: Topic
content: Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
label: Topic
content: palace
label: Topic
content: Daoist Immortals
label: Topic
content: island
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: blue-and-green style
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: F1909.397
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink, color, and gold on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 228.7 x 101 cm (90 1/16 x 39 3/4 in)