The Return of Cai Wenji, dated 1835

馮箕 蔡文姬歸來圖 扇面 (1835)


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Fan leaf, ink and colour on paper,

Signed and inscribed: farmer from Yutian, in the beginning of the autumn in the yiwei year (1835 or 1895)

Inscribed: 'it is cold in the tent at the end of autumn' (from one of her poems named 'Poem of Sorrow and Anger)

18 x 53.5 cm

Cai Wenji (177-250) was a female poet en musician in the late Han dynasty.
During an attack by the Xiongnu she was kidnapped and spent the following years as a captive and concubine in the northern part of China (now Mongolia).

The painting shows her seated in her Xiongnu tent holding an infant. 
It is one of the scenes from a poem 'Eigjteen Songs of a Nomad Flute' by the 8th century poet Liu Shang, which tells the story of Cai Wenji.

 

馮箕 蔡文姬歸來圖 扇面 (1835)
時代:乙未初秋,1835年。畫家:馮箕(清乾隆至道光年間人)。
特徵:題詞「氊帐秋深翠钿寒」,畫面描繪蔡文姬懷抱一嬰兒,出自唐代詩人劉商擬蔡文姬《胡笳曲》所作之《胡笳十八拍》。署名:玉田邨農。
尺寸:18 x 53.5公分。

Paintings > Chinese Paintings