Elegant Gathering in a Garden

Original Language TitleYuan-lin ya-chi t'u

Artist You Qiu (Chinese, active 1540 - 1590)

Date16th century

MediumHandscroll; ink on paper

DimensionsImage: 9 7/8 × 303 1/4 inches (25.08 × 770.26 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number50-23

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Ming exhibition, Detroit Institute of Arts, April-June 1952.

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. 167.

Kernels of Energy, Bones of the Earth: The Rock in Chinese Art, China House Gallery, New York, October 23, 1985-January 29, 1986, no. 30.

Ming Paintings through the Eyes of Connoisseurs, Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas, January 20 – March 4, 2001.

Senses and Sensibilities in Chinese Painting, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City Missouri, December 14,2008- February 15, 2009.

Sages and Heroes: Storytelling in Asian Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 12, 2025–November 30, 2025, no cat.

Gallery Label

Artist You Qiu is famous for his ink narrative art on handscrolls. Landscape elements of trees, rocks, or bridges frame and individual scenes, connecting them into a long-winding picture. This painting draws from conventional tales about the lives of scholars, some of whom can be loosely traced back to historical figures. You Qiu renders an array of episodes featuring what were considered scholars’ elegant pastimes, such as painting appreciation, writing, instrument playing, and chess.

Provenance

With C. T. Loo, Inc., New York, stock no. 7142, March 1949-1950 [1];

Purchased from C. T. Loo, Inc. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1950.

NOTES:

[1] C. T. Loo/Frank Caro archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy of stock card in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

Published References

Paul Grigaut, The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, exh. cat., (Detroit Institute of Arts, April 18- June1, 1952), 15, no. 35.

Osvald Siren, Chinese Paintings: Leading Masters and Principles (New York: 1956-1958), vol. IV, 216; vol. VI, pl. 245.

Maggie Keswick, The Chinese Garden (New York: 1978), 180, fig. 197.

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), 209-212, no. 167.

John Hay, Kernels of Energy Bones of the Earth The Rock in Chinese Art (New York: China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1985), 110-111, pl. 62, no. 30.

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), 326.

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), 363, fig. 244.

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