This work represents various activities in a Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) palace on a spring morning. Among them is the famous story of Mao Yen-shou painting the portrait of Wang Chao-chun. The intricate composition is rendered with crisp and strong brushwork and beautiful colors. The lavish palace scenes are punctuated by trees and decorative rocks, creating marvelous scenery similar to that of the immortals. In addition to the groups of beauties, leisure activities of the literati, such as the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting as well as appreciating antiquities and planting folwers are shown. This masterpiece of historical narrative painting by ch'iu Ying was done for Hsiang Yuan-pien and completed after 1542.
Spring Dawn in the Han Palace Ch’iu Ying (ca. 1494-1552)Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Spring Dawn is a vivid portrayal of the lavish lifestyle of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) imperial harem, which was long a favorite theme of Chinese painters. Ch’iu Ying’s version is one of the most brilliantly accomplished of these and is the finest of such works in the museum. Unlike many other paintings of the Han seraglio this one depicts the semi-apocryphal court painter Mao Yen-shou, who is here shown painting portraits of the imperial consorts, which the emperor used to select from his many beauties. The woman now sitting for her portrait is possibly the legendary beauty Wang Chao-Chün, who failed to bribe the artist to create a lovlier-than-life resemblance. Her portrait was correspondingly unflattering, and she was neglected by the emperor. When she was eventually sent away from the court to wed a foreigner, the emperor finally saw how beautiful she was and regretted having dismissed her. The painter was executed. Ch’iu Ying, one of the "Four Masters of the Ming," was a native of T’ai-ts’ang, Kiangsu. Originally a painting artisan (by some accounts a lacquer artist), he studied under Chou Ch’en (fl. 1500-1535) and created paintings that combined the finish of the academy style with the spirit of literati painting.