Musicians Playing

Did you know an 8th century Chinese lute had a similar layout to the Emperor Xuanzong Visits Shu painting we mentioned last week? While the lute was simpler, the Xuanzong piece is far more complex and exquisite. The artist brilliantly depicts the imperial procession winding through the dramatic mountain gorge - cavalry emerging from cliffs, people resting at the foot of the peaks, the front of the parade turning into the next ravine. It's an incredibly dynamic, narrative-driven masterpiece that transports you right into this historic imperial journey.

Tang Dynasty (618-907) Decorative painting on a chinese lute. Height 53cm. Collection of the Shōsōin, Japan.

This piece is compiled from the Chinese edition of Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting by Foreign Languages Press and Yale University Press, translated by Chen Ying.