Palace Beauty with a Sword
CultureChinese
Date18th century
MediumHanging scroll (laid down on panel); ink and color on silk
DimensionsImage: 71 × 37 1/4 inches (180.34 × 94.62 cm)
Framed: 82 1/4 × 48 3/4 inches (208.92 × 123.83 cm)
Framed: 82 1/4 × 48 3/4 inches (208.92 × 123.83 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number33-612
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionPainting of a Chinese court lady seated on a couch in a dress of red and gold with a dragon border. A tall candlestick burns to one side of the couch and there is a sword on the seat behind her. Brown background. Possibly a picture of the heroine Mu Lan.Gallery LabelThis painting may depict the warrior nun Lü Siniang, heroine of a popular story that circulated about the time this picture was painted. Because her father publicly criticized the Emperor Yongzheng (r. 1722–1735), the emperor dispatched imperial soldiers to put his whole family to death. She was the only survivor and vowed revenge. Slipping into the palace at night, she killed the emperor. By the dim light, our heroine removes a red robe to reveal her protective mesh armor beneath; her sword rests on the couch behind her.
Dr. Otto Burchard;
Purchased from Dr. Otto Burchard by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.
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Chen Shi
18th century
34-276
