Xi Shi, Fairest Beauty of Ancient China
With looks powerful enough to bring down a kingdom.
About the Four Beauties of China:
In Chinese culture, there are four famous beautiful woman of China.
They are thought to be the most beautiful and significant woman of China's ancient history.
Although the stories about these woman are based on fact, they are also steeped in legend.
These woman have remained famous through history because of the drastic effects on the emperors, kings, and kingdoms with whom they were bound.
Some of the beauties brought kingdoms and dynasties to their knees.
Most of the beauties had lives that ended in tragedy or mystery.
The legend and history of these woman has inspired Chinese artists for generations to create paintings that depict these four famous beauties of ancient China.
More about the beauty depicted on this scroll:
The woman in this painting is known as "Xi Shi"
In 487BC Xi Shi was born to a tea trader from a mountain village in what today is known as the Zhejiang Province of China.
She was always known for her beauty from a young age. And her legend states that she was as beautiful and magnificent with or without wearing any make-up or fine clothes.
The Story:
Long ago, the kingdom of Yue was vanquished by the kingdom of Wu, and the King of Yue was put into servitude for three years by the Prince of Wu.
When the King of Yue was finally released, he slept on prickly wood, and drank gall before every meal. He did this so that he would always remember the humiliation that he suffered at the hands of the Wu Prince.
Later the king of Yue sent forth men to search for the most beautiful girl in the land. His plan was to send her as a tribute to the Prince of Wu, but not before she agreed to help bring down the Kingdom of Wu and remove the humiliation of the Yue King.
Xi Shi was chosen for the task, and agreed to give her life to restore the honor of her people. She was trained in the ways of proper etiquette, dressed in the finest robes and sent to the capital of Wu with Fan Li, one of the King's ministers.
During the long journey, Xi Shi fell in love with minister Fan Li, and they both pledged their love for each other. But this changed nothing of the important mission that Xi Shi was partaking in.
Once in the Wu capital, she was given to the Wu Prince who gladly took the beautiful "Trojan Horse" as his own. He was enchanted by her looks, and proud of his new trophy.
Over time, the prince began to neglect his political duties, choosing instead to take carriage rides around the capital city to show off Xi Shi. He would even tell the crowd that if they wanted to see Xi Shi, they would have to throw gold coins into his coffer.
Xi Shi stayed on her mission which was to enchant the prince in such a way that his subjects would become disgusted with him, and his friends would desert him. The ultimate goal was to create political chaos which would allow the King of Yue to invade, and take Wu.
Eventually this came to pass, and the state of Wu was annexed by the King of Yue.
Xi Shi disappeared from public life, and minister Fan Li resigned his post, became a successful trader.
Eventually, he was rejoined by his beloved, and lived out his like with the beautiful Xi Shi in obscurity.
Xi Shi is seen as a woman-hero of ancient China, and not a villain that caused the downfall of a Kingdom.
She was certainly an empowered woman, but perhaps not in exactly in the way that we imagine that women become empowered in our modern world.
About the Artist:
The artist's name is Wang Jian-Qiu. The artist lives in Jinan, the capital city of Shandong Province in Northern China (about 5 hours south of Beijing). I was introduced to this artist's work at Qin Xia's studio in Jinan. This artist has been a long time friend of Qin Xia (You may recognize Qin Xia's name from artwork in our flowers and birds category).
This is a elaborate style painting using special black Chinese ink and watercolor on rice paper. After buying this art from the artist, it was mounted to a hand-made silk scroll.
