Jade Mountain Illustrating the Gathering of Scholars at the Lanting Pavilion, 1790, 22 1/2 × 38 3/8 in. ( × cm), Light green jade, China, 18th century, The Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong (r. 1736–95) commissioned this jade boulder, apparently the largest piece of historic carved jade outside of China. It depicts a literary gathering of scholar-officials at Lanting, the Orchid Pavilion described in 'Lanting jixu' (Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion), by Wang Xizhi (303–361), recognized as the greatest calligrapher of the Far East.

---

Size: 6776px × 5091px
Location:
Photo credit: © Penta Springs / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1736–95, 1790, 18th, 303–361, apparently, banks, boulder, calligrapher, carved, century, china, closest, commissioned, composed, contest, creek, cup, cups, depicts, drinking, dynasty, east, emperor, engaged, floated, forty-, front, gathered, gathering, greatest, green, historic, illustrating, jade, jixu, lanting, largest, light, literary, man, men, mountain, orchid, pavilion, piece, poems, preface, prose, qianlong, qing, recognized, renowned, sat, scholar-officials, scholars, small, stopped, wang, winding, wine, xizhi