The Precious Concubine of Ancient China
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:
This woman was born as "Yang Yu-Huan" she later became known in history as "Yang Gui-Fei".
To break down the meaning:
Yang = Her family name
Gui = Precious
Fei = Concubine
Therefore you can call her, "Precious Concubine" in English.
...because "concubine" is was not such a bad term in ancient China, you might call her, "The Precious Beauty".
Her Story:
Yang Gui-Fei was selected by the emperor (during the Tang Dynasty) to become one of
his
concubines. She soon became the only woman that the emperor wanted.
Because he was so taken with her beauty he neglected his duties as emperor, and spent all of his time with her.
Soon stability of the country crumbled around him. This beautiful woman and her alluring and charming ways had left an empire in ruins.
The emperor lost everything because of his captivation by this beautiful and addictive woman.
Later, the people around the kingdom, knowing the effect she had on the emperor, killed her.
Knowing this fact, it almost makes you want to rename her, "The Deadly Beauty
of China".
There lessons to be learned from both sides of this story.
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.
