Carved from pale gray-green stone with cloudy white mottling and black and brown rivering throughout, the mountain landscape with high rising peaks and numerous figures and pavillions amid foliage on both sides, with the seal of the Emperor Qianlong above a long inscription on one side, the reverse with a further inscription and a seal, one seal referring to the eightieth year of the Emperor Qianlong,corresponding to the year 1784.

Jade Mountain Illustrating the Gathering of Scholars at the Lanting Pavilion, 1790

Unknown artist, expand_more

The Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong (r. 1736–95) commissioned this jade boulder, apparently the largest piece of historic carved jade outside of China. It depicts a literary gathering of scholar-officials at Lanting, the Orchid Pavilion described in “Lanting jixu” (Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion), by Wang Xizhi (303–361), recognized as the greatest calligrapher of the Far East. The prose itself is carved on the front. Wang Xizhi, together with forty-one other renowned scholar-officials, gathered at Lanting and engaged in a drinking contest: wine cups were floated down a small winding creek as the men sat along its banks. Whenever a cup stopped, the man closest to the cup was required to drink it and write a poem. In the end, twenty-six of the participants composed thirty-seven poems. Emperor Qianlong’s own poem appears carved on the reverse.

Explore

Audio

Jade Mountain (2 labels) (#225)
Details
Title
Jade Mountain Illustrating the Gathering of Scholars at the Lanting Pavilion
Role
Artist
Accession Number
92.103.13
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

Does something look wrong with this image? Let us know

Zoom in on the left to the detail you'd like to save. Click 'Save detail' and wait until the image updates. Right click the image to 'save image as' or copy link, or click the image to open in a new tab.

Carved from pale gray-green stone with cloudy white mottling and black and brown rivering throughout, the mountain landscape with high rising peaks and numerous figures and pavillions amid foliage on both sides, with the seal of the Emperor Qianlong above a long inscription on one side, the reverse with a further inscription and a seal, one seal referring to the eightieth year of the Emperor Qianlong,corresponding to the year 1784.