This
detailed double silk scroll was painted in the 10th century by famous
Southern Tang Dynasty court artist, Gu Hongzhong (active 943-75) for
the emperor Li Yu (937-975) of that dynasty. It depicts, in narrative
vignettes read right to left, one of the court's leading ministers and
his house guests engaging in improper relations with singing girls,
violating the social code for acceptable conduct between the genders.
Quite shocking at the time.
This
remarkable painting, which now hangs in the Palace Museum of the Forbidden
City in Beijing, has been celebrated, referenced and parodied by artists
even to the present day. It has also been the subject of a contemporary
opera named Ye Yan by Guo Wenjing. The Banquet (2005), a multi-million
dollar Chinese costume epic starring actress Zhang Ziyi of Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame, was based on this very famous painting.
During
the Song Dynasty (960-1279), this masterpiece was acquired by the notorious
eighth emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Ji (1082 - ca. 1135),
also known as Huizong. An accomplished artist, poet and musician, but
abysmal politician, Huizong fostered the visual, musical and literary
arts, collected old calligraphic works and painting in his palace.
Because
of Huizong, the Song dynasty is remembered and valued today for its
high art, culture and literature.
Painter
Zhao Kailin's Song Dynasty daughter is obviously heir to this wonderful
legacy. The artist's juxtaposition of contemporary female, unafraid
to display her feminine charms, with ancient depictions of social impropriety
celebrates mainland China's new social and cultural renaissance, one
that increasingly embraces an open-mindedness to new thought.
