Lady in the Library
Mount: 138 × 43 3/4 inches (350.52 × 111.13 cm)
Mount (roller length): 49 inches (124.46 cm)
Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, February 18-December 2, 1939.
Vanity Fair, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, June-July 1942.
Images of beautiful women in studies filled with books, antique vessels, and brushes were popular in paintings and decorative arts in the 1700s. Traditionally, these objects represented a person’s cultural achievement, but the imagery could also indicate a dangerous seductress.
The woman in the painting holds a Buddha’s Hand, a scented fruit that doubles as an air freshener and her personal fragrance. Her coy glance at the viewer invites an intimate encounter. Like a courtesan serving upper-class scholars and officials, she entertains with her physical beauty and ability to read and write.
Celestin Liu, Beijing, China;
Purchased from Celestin Liu by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.
