Portrait of Shaoyu in the guise of Liu Ling
This is an example of a type of portrait that became popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in which the sitter plays the role of a famous historical or legendary figure. Here, the subject, identified only by his sobriquet, Shaoyu, appears in the guise of the drunken scholar Liu Ling (221–300), who turned to wine to escape the tumultuous political environment of his day. Liu is remembered as one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, contemporaries who renounced worldly affairs for the simple pleasures of drink, music, and poetry. Following standard depictions of Liu, Shaoyu rides in a deer-drawn carriage and is accompanied by attendants, one of whom carries a spade to bury the master on the spot should he die from dissipation.
Artwork Details
- 清 佚名 金衢先生小照 卷
- Title: Portrait of Shaoyu in the guise of Liu Ling
- Artist: unidentified artist , active late 18th–early 19th century
- Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Date: ca. 1795
- Culture: China
- Medium: Handscroll; ink and color on silk
- Dimensions: Image: 14 3/8 × 61 3/4 in. (36.5 × 156.8 cm)
Overall with mounting: 17 1/4 in. × 21 ft. 11 1/2 in. (43.8 × 669.3 cm)
Overall with knobs: 17 1/4 × 18 3/8 in. (43.8 × 46.7 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2017
- Object Number: 2017.133
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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