Portrait of Dong Fang Shuo with Two Attendants

Description Dong Fang Shuo, an official at the court of the Chinese emperor in the late 2nd century BC, became an immortal by stealing a peach the Queen Mother of the West had brough to China from her mountain paradise. Pao K'ai's shakey brushstrokes and the sense of humor evident in the faces of Dong Fang Shuo and his attendants are traits the artist picked up from Huang Shen, one of the famous "Yangzhou eccentrics"--18th century artist poets who lived in a southern city wealthy from the salt trade.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
8/10/1990	Treatment	repaired
1/01/1994	Examination	examined for condition
12/09/1999	Examination	examined for condition
7/17/2002	Examination	examined for exhibition

Provenance Panama-Pacific International Exposition, China Pavilion, San Francisco, 1915 [no. 154]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1915, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Inscription] 東方朔武帝朝待詔金馬門帝社賜從官肉大官未至朔割肉以歸有司奏帝令自責朔再拜曰受賜不待詔何無禮也拔劍自割何壯也割之不多何廉也歸遺細君又何仁也上笑復賜酒肉月樓大兄雅座(?)雲汀包楷; [Seal]包楷

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1915