In the Palace (before 1140): Art, History and Details

In the Palace (before 1140) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Zhou Wenju (Chinese, active 942–961).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In the Palace depicts 13 ladies of the imperial household, three servants, and six children in fluent baimiao (plain drawing) brushwork, accentuated by color. The women entertain themselves by making music, tending children, and playing with pets. Their elaborate hairstyles, plump figures, and flowing robes are reminiscent of Tang dynasty fashion. The scroll illustrates elegant court life and is a direct copy of the original by Zhou Wenju (active 940–75) from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province. Zhou was employed at the Southern Tang court in Nanjing under Emperor Li Yu (reigned 961–76), a prolific poet.

Object facts

• Title: In the Palace
• Date: before 1140
• Creator attribution: Zhou Wenju (Chinese, active 942–961)
• Culture: China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Handscroll; ink and light color on silk
• Dimensions: Painting: 28.5 x 168.6 cm (11 1/4 x 66 3/8 in.); Overall: 29.7 x 306.1 cm (11 11/16 x 120 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1976.1

A detail from the museum

The ladies' elaborate hairstyles, plump figures, and flowing robes are reminiscent of Tang dynasty fashion.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The CMA handscroll is one part of an original twelfth-century painting, which was divided into four sections. The fourth section is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Another section of the handscroll is preserved in the Harvard Art Museums' collection.
• The Bernard Berenson collection at Villa I Tatti, Florence, Italy, also has a section.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.