The Peach Blossom Spring

Original Language Title桃源圖

Artist Zha Shibiao 查士標 (Chinese, 1615 - 1698)

Date1695

MediumHandscroll; ink and color on paper

DimensionsImage: 13 7/8 × 123 1/8 inches (35.23 × 312.75 cm)
Mount (height): 15 inches (38.1 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number72-4

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionCalligraphic panels flank the image.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, Nelson-Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, November 7, 1980 – January 4, 1981; The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 7 – April 5, 1981; The Asia Society, December 3, 1981 – February 28, 1982; Tokyo National Museum, October 4 – November 17, 1982, no. 227.

Tides of Chaos, Fervor Within: Chinese Painters of the 17th Century Respond to Dynastic Upheaval, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, September 23, 2004- February 12, 2008.

The Peach Blossom Spring, Okazaki City Museum of Art and History, April 9, -May 22, 2011.

Flowers to Frost: Four Seasons in East Asian Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, July 18, 2015- July 17, 2016.

Gallery Label

This handscroll illustrates “The Peach Blossom Spring” by the poet Tao Qian (365–427 C.E.). In the poem, a fisherman discovers a utopian village hidden behind groves of blossoming peach trees. Marking time by the seasons, villagers live happily in this remote, lush haven. Alongside the translucent blue and green washes in the hills and boulders, the light pink of peach blossoms symbolizes renewal.

Provenance

Mr. Suhow Hwa;

Purchased from Mr. Suhow Hwa by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1972.

Published References

Terukazu Akiyama, et.al., ed . Chugoku bijutsu [Chinese art in Western collections]/ Kaiga, vol. II, ed. Kei Suzuki and Teisuke Tosa (Tokyo: 1973), 239, pl. 55.

Archives of Asian Art, vol. xxvii (New York: Asia Society, 1974), 103, fig. 34.

Ross E. Taggart, George L. McKenna, and Marc F. Wilson, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. II, Art of the Orient. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 67-68.

Kei Kawakami, Takeyoshi Tsuruta, Chugoku no meiga, Sekai bijutsu [Selected Chinese Masters], vol. X (Tokyo: 1977), 60-61.

Wai-Kam Ho, et al., Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art. (The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, c1980), 306-307, no. 227.

Archives of Asian art, vol. 39 (1986), 42-43, fig. 15.

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 330.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 372, fig. 273.

The Peach Blossom Spring, Okazaki City Museum of Art and History, (Okazaki: Okazakishi bijutsu hakubutsukan, 2011).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.