The Lantern Night Excursion of Zhong Kui
Yan Hui (Chinese, active 1270–1310)
late 1200s–early 1300s
- Medium
- handscroll; ink and slight color on silk
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 24.8 x 240.3 cm (9 3/4 x 94 5/8 in.); Overall: 25.7 x 904.4 cm (10 1/8 x 356 1/16 in.)
- Culture
- China, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Kids profiles and older: it shows nature, places, still life or a children's book. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Here, the demon queller Zhong Kui leads a nightly procession of street entertainers with bare, muscular bodies and demonic faces. Some wear shabby clothes, and all perform stunts and tricks to astound and scare the viewer. In fact, a New Year custom in cities of southeast China had the poor, disguised as demons, process through the streets and play their tricks to clear households of evil spirits and welcome the spring.
From right to left, a demonic figure leads the procession and beats a drum; another lifts a large rock; one stands on his hands trying to drink; one balances a jar on his elbow; three hold and wield weapons; one carries a folded chair covered by a cow’s skin; another holds Zhong Kui’s qin (zither), books, brush, and inkstone. At the end of the scroll, two figures offer a cup and bottle of wine to Zhong Kui, who lifts his hand in command.
