Painters of the Ch'ing Court
Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911)
Framed 18"x24"                                                                           ( Original is Color and Ink on Silk; size: 69"x37" , Wallscroll )

This set of twelve paintings depicts, with a spicing of imagination, activities which typify each month of the lunar calendar. It bears no signatures but is plainly a work of the Ch'ing dynasty academy. Judging from the style it is a collaborative effort by painter T'ang Tai, Ting Kuan-p'eng and other painters of the Ch'ien-lung court (1736-1796).  

The ceremony of purification is held on the third day of the month and has become associated with the scene depicted here. Scholars sit along a winding stream while their servants fill small goblets with wine and then float them down the current. Those who wish to drink must rescue their goblet from the middle of the stream. Beyond the garden small boys fly a kite while farmers net fish in the river and plough the rice-paddies, urging on their water buffalos with hoots and yells.