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Palace Ladies of the Cinnamon Hall and Orchid Palace
Formerly attributed to Li Gonglin (傳)李公麟 (ca. 1049-1106)
15th century
- Medium
- Ink on paper
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- H x W: 36.8 x 164.8 cm (14 1/2 x 64 7/8 in)
- Culture
- Chinese
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
This visually complex painting shows an exterior view of a palace harem, where the empress and imperial concubines took their leisure. Galleries and pavilions surround an artificial pond, in which two eunuchs calmly row a pair of pleasure craft past each other. In the pavilion at right, four other servants move furniture and sweep the floor, while palace ladies in elegant robes gather in small groups on the terraces of elaborate pavilions at back and left.
