Lady Xuanwen Giving Instruction on the Rites of Zhou (1638): Art, History and Details

Lady Xuanwen Giving Instruction on the Rites of Zhou (1638) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652).

The work and its context

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

This painting by Chen Hongshou depicts the story of Xuanwen Jun, or Lady of Literary Propagation, at a venerable age, instructing young scholars on the Confucian classics. It was painted for Chen’s aunt in celebration of her 60th birthday. Chen’s painting style is archaic in the use of fine outlines and brilliant coloring with mineral pigments. In depicting the figures, he uses the “iron-wire” brush style (fine, even lines) with deliberate control. The faces are elongated and exaggerated. A few ritual bronzes lend the scene an antique flavor.

Object facts

• Title: Lady Xuanwen Giving Instruction on the Rites of Zhou
• Date: 1638
• Creator attribution: Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Image: 172.8 x 55.7 cm (68 1/16 x 21 15/16 in.); Overall: 293.9 x 71 cm (115 11/16 x 27 15/16 in.); with knobs: 293.9 x 79 cm (115 11/16 x 31 1/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1961.89

A detail from the museum

Chen Hongshou's long inscription at the top of the painting compares his virtuous aunt with the historical exemplar, Lady Xuanwen.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Ho, Wai-Kam. “Nan-Ch’en Pei-Ts’ui: Ch’en of the South and Ts’ui of the North.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 1 (1962): 1–11.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• Cahill, James, and Virginia Field. Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting. [New York]: Asia Society; distributed by Abrams, 1967.

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.