![The Ninth Day Literary Gathering at Xing’an [Temporary Retreat], by Fang Shishu, 1743](/thumbs/cma/1979.72/1979.72_web.jpg)
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The Ninth Day Literary Gathering at Xing’an [Temporary Retreat]
Fang Shishu (Chinese, 1693–1751)
and Ye Fanglin (Chinese, active late 1600s–mid-1700s)
1743
- Medium
- Handscroll; ink and color on silk
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 32.4 x 201.2 cm (12 3/4 x 79 3/16 in.); Overall: 33.5 x 893 cm (13 3/16 x 351 9/16 in.)
- Culture
- China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
By the 1700s, Yangzhou was flourishing both economically and culturally as the most prosperous city in China, having surpassed all other Jiangnan cities in their creation of gardens. This group portrait commemorates a literary gathering in the private garden of the salt merchants and art patrons Ma Yueguan (1688–1755) and his brother Ma Yuelu (1697–after 1766) in Yangzhou. Ma Yueguan received imperial recognition for providing financial aid and food relief for those affected by flood and drought. Ma Yueguan is seen seated at the end of the painting holding an open scroll while Ma Yuelu stands behind the qin instrument player. Among the guests were officials, scholars, poets, painters, and merchants, a mix of local members of a poetry club reflecting increasing social diversity.
