Artwork Page for Garden for Solitary Enjoyment

Details / Information for Garden for Solitary Enjoyment

Garden for Solitary Enjoyment

獨樂園

1515–52

Qiu Ying 仇英

(Chinese, 1494–1552)
Culture
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Medium
Handscroll; ink and light color on silk
Measurements
Painting: 28 x 518.5 cm (11 x 204 1/8 in.); Overall: 32 x 1290.2 cm (12 5/8 x 507 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1978.67
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Sima Guang completed his monumental survey of Chinese history, Zizhi tongjian, in the garden depicted in this painting.

Description

Garden of Solitary Enjoyment refers to a site built in 1073 by the statesman Sima Guang (1019–1086) after he had retired to Luoyang, Henan province. Every spring, visitors would flock to his garden. Each of its seven structures references a historic figure. Sima wrote: I channel streams [like Du Mu], to water flowers [like Bai Juyi], or trim bamboo [like Wang Huizhi]. . . . I know of no joy between heaven and earth that could take its place.

Qiu Ying’s painting, created after an 11th-century version of the same theme, must have appealed to garden owners of the Ming dynasty, since it became the template for numerous Suzhou workshop copies
Horizontally long handscroll depicting people with light skin tone scattered throughout a garden. After Chinese calligraphy across the left (see "Inscriptions") the garden features, left to right, a building on an island with a bridge connecting to land, a pavilion, a grid of green squares with plants in the center broken by a row of bamboo, water with bamboo in an central island, and two buildings partially open to show a person in each one.

Garden for Solitary Enjoyment

1515–52

Qiu Ying

(Chinese, 1494–1552)
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

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