One of a set of three hanging scrolls. (.1) Chrysanthemums, (.2) Queen Mother of the West and Attendent (.3) Peonies. This triptych of hanging scrolls, by the Japanese woman painter Kiyohara Yukinobu (1643–1682), honors Chinese subject matter. The three paintings were intended to be hung together and then “read” from right to left–with the right image of red and white peonies among rocks next to water–signifying the spring/summer season as well as a rebus puzzle indicating “successive wealth”. The left image depicts white and red chrysanthemums–signifying the fall/winter season and also indicate a type of medicine, drunk as a tea, that extends life. The center image depicts a woman who sometimes is read as the Queen Mother of the West, a Daoist immortal (Japanese: Seiobo; Chinese: Xiwangmu ????) who is one of the most popular Chinese themes for Japanese painters. Believed to reside on Mount Kunlun, a mythical paradise in the far west of China, she is a formidable deity in the ancient Daoist pantheon. Other times this femine form is identified as Yang Yuhuan (Chinese: ???; 26 June, 719 – 15 July 756), often known as Yang Guifei (???, with Guifei being the highest rank for imperial consorts. Yang Guifei (719–756 C.E.), called Yo Kihi in Japanese, was the beloved and tragic consort of China’s Tang-dynasty Emperor Xuanzong. Partly due to her beauty, the emperor neglected his duty and the dynasty collapsed and she was put to death. Often paired with peonies in images (or playing a flute, or holding a fan)--in many images she wears a phoenix crown, a feature that sometimes conflates her with the Queen Mother of the West. The Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) style of clothing (the upturned shoes, voluminous sleeves and flowing robes) as well as her features (small mouth, prominent nose and high eyebrows) were a popular neo-classical form within the Sino-Japanese context that was copied in the Tang and successive periods to reference “China’s golden age”. The Queen Mother of the West is accompanied by a child-attendant who holds a long handled rank fan incorporating long, white feathers. Together three three paintings signal wishes for a long, healthy and prosperous life.

Center Hanging Scroll of Triptych with Queen Mother of the West and Attendent

Kiyohara Yukinobu

17th century

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