Artwork

明佚名瑤臺獻壽圖扇|Paying homage to Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West

明佚名瑤臺獻壽圖扇|Paying homage to Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West is an ink painting. It dates from 1449 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work, titled “瑤臺獻壽圖” (Yáotái Xiànshòu Tú), is an ink-and-color painting on silk mounted as a fan leaf.

About this work

Technique & Style

Linework is precise, with soft contouring and minimal background detail, focusing attention on the ritual scene of obeisance.

The work is painted in ink and color on silk, mounted as a folding fan and remounted as an album leaf. Handling shows fine mineral pigments and ink applied in layered washes to build delicate modeling of figures and drapery, with careful attention to the translucency of the silk. Stylistically, the composition arranges five standing figures in a shallow, stage-like space before a stepped table, emphasizing frontal poses and symmetrical grouping.

Linework is precise, with soft contouring and minimal background detail, focusing attention on the ritual scene of obeisance.

History & Provenance

The album leaf was created in 1449 and is attributed to an anonymous Ming-dynasty painter. It depicts a scene of homage to Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, rendered in ink and color on silk and mounted as a folding fan. The work is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as part of its holdings of Chinese art.

Specific inventory or accession numbers are not provided in the available records, and no exhibition history is documented.

Context

The fan, dated 1449 and mounted as an album leaf, exemplifies anonymous Ming-dynasty painting. Its depiction of figures paying homage before a table aligns with ritual iconography associated with Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West. The work is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is studied as part of the museum's collection of fifteenth-century Chinese paintings.

It is treated as representative of the anonymous court workshop tradition, notable for its execution in ink and color on silk and its place within the broader context of devotional art in imperial China.

Overview

The work, titled “瑤臺獻壽圖” (Yáotái Xiànshòu Tú), is an ink-and-color painting on silk mounted as a fan leaf. Though the creator remains unidentified, the piece belongs to the broader tradition of Chinese fan paintings that functioned as portable, decorative artworks.

Subject & Meaning

The scene portrays a group of male figures gathered around a banquet table, offering tribute to Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, a deity associated with longevity and celestial authority. The composition emphasizes ritual respect and the auspicious wish for a long life, central themes in courtly and religious iconography.

元/明　佚名　舊傳趙雍　倣盛懋　蘇軾後赤壁賦圖　團扇|元/明佚名後赤壁賦圖扇|Illustration of Su Shi's "Second Ode on the Red Cliff", Sheng Mao

Artist & collection

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art

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