UNKNOWN ARTIST

Ink and colours on silk. Horizontal scroll, brocade mounting. Seal in the upper right: Zhang Yanke. This scroll features the popular subject of scholars meeting in a garden. The venue is a multiple-sectioned terrace on the water, surrounded by trees and rocks, bounded on the right by a railing and on the left by the water’s surface. Fifteen scholars in long robes, ten servants in trousers, and two women comprise a number of groups, each devoted to various activities. The second scene from the right, in which the scholar writes on a rock, or the conversation between a scholar and a Zen monk near the trees, could be references to specific figures and episodes from history. The figures and the natural elements are executed in distinct yet thin contour lines, filled with rich colours. The faces have lively, rapt expressions.