Artwork Page for Literary Gathering in the Orchid Pavilion

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Literary Gathering in the Orchid Pavilion

late 1700s

Maruyama Ōkyo 丸山応挙

(Japanese, 1733–1795)
Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Medium
Six-panel folding screen; ink and slight color on paper
Measurements
Image: 83 x 191.8 cm (32 11/16 x 75 1/2 in.); Overall: 95.7 x 204.5 cm (37 11/16 x 80 1/2 in.); Open and extended: 83 x 243 cm (32 11/16 x 95 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1977.1
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

A cheerful gathering of poets was one the most popular themes of East Asian literati paintings. Literary Gathering in the Orchid Pavilion depicts a poets’ party hosted in AD 353 by the famous Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi to celebrate the Spring Purification Festival, observed annually on the third day of the third month. Wang invited 41 scholar-poets to compose poetry and drink while seated along the bank of a winding rivulet. This screen would have appeared on the left and shows preparations for the gathering. The lost right screen is assumed to have depicted the poets sitting along the stream.
A six-panel folding screen depicts figures with light skin tones wearing pale robes in an ink and color landscape. Moving from the left, people walk beside a winding blue stream. In the center, men gather around a table within an open structure. To the right, figures congregate near gnarled pine trees and a dense bamboo grove. Thin black lines and muted blue washes define the scene, which is framed by a gold border.

Literary Gathering in the Orchid Pavilion

late 1700s

Maruyama Ōkyo

(Japanese, 1733–1795)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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