Night Revels of Han Xizai
4 min readPainter:Gu Hongzhong
Painting Year:the Five Dynasties
Material:silk scroll
Dimension:vertical length of 28.7 centimeters and horizontal length of 335.5 centimeters
collection Place:the Palace Museum in Beijing
Night Revels of Han Xizai depicts the scene that Han Xizai，a minister in the Southern Tang Dynasty，gave a grand banquet to the guests at home in the middle of the night.It is a masterpiece of the fgure paintingsin the Five Dynasties.The long scroll can be divided from right to left into fve scenes of listening to the music，watching the dance，having a rest，hearing the solo performance of vertical futes and seeing off the guests.Different scenes are separated from each other by screens.They are independent from each other but are mutually connected.
Han Xizai was suspected by the court at that time.He had no way but to avoid the reality and relieve the depression through luxurious night banquets.In the picture，he was encompassed by the music and dance but had a depressive face，forming a sharp contrast with the joyful scenes of music and dance.
The roles of figures in the picture and their mutual relations were handled systematically，naturally and vividly.The picture is rhythmically composed with density and sparseness.The brushwork is thin，smooth，mellow and powerful，making a clear distinction between the main and subordinate parts.The colors of the picture are bright and elegant.
Han Xizai
Han Xizai came from Shandong and was well learned.He was known for a while for his poems and articles.
Because of the unfortunate things that happened to his father，he fed to the area south of the Yangtze River and crossed over to the Southern Tang Dynasty.However，he was not given important positions and could not put his knowledge and skills into use.After Emperor Houzhu Li Yu succeeded the crown，the Southern Dynasty’s state power became weaker and weaker and was threatened by the Song Dynasty in the north.Li Yu wanted to appoint Han Xizai as the Prime Minister but was politely rejected by Han who saw that the situation was beyond salvation.At that time Li Yu was very suspicious of the ministers who came from the north but served the Southern Tang Dynasty.Some of them were even poisoned to death.In order to avoid the persecution and get rid of people’s doubt about his political ambition，Han Xizai indulged himself in music and women day and night and did not attend to the state affairs.In that way he kept his safety.
Art Master
Gu Hongzhong
He was a famous painter working for the court in the Five Dynasties.His birth date and death date remain unknown.He came from the area south of the Yangtze River and was good at painting fgures.The Night Revels of Han Xizai was the only product of Gu Hongzhong that has been passed down to today.
This is the scene of the solo performance of vertical flutes.Four of the five vertical flute players stayed together while the other one sat a bit far away from them.Their actions and orientations were different，which were irregular but quite natural.The heritages of the The origin of theNight Revels of Han Xizai Li Yu，the last ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty，heard that the house of Han Xizai was bustling with noises and excitement at night.He was quite suspicious of that，so he sent Gu Hongzhong who was a painter working for the court to Han’s house to fnd out what was going on.After the banquet in Han’s house，Gu Hongzhong returned home and fnished thelight Revels of Han Xizai based on his memories.After seeing this painting，Li Yu completely eliminated the doubts about Han Xizai.He even showed this artwork to Han to makehim feel ashamed of his absurd life.However，Han Xizai had no reactions at all after seeing the picture and continued to enjoy banquets all night.
Though Li Yu’s goad was not realized，thelight Revels of Han Xizai，became a masterpiece that was known throughout ages.
Brief Background
The Drawing from Memory
It refers to the painting which is drawn based on the painter’s memory after the painter has thoroughly watched the object and mastered its features and rules.It is also called”Painting Based on Memory.
“The”Drawing from Memory”is the basic skill of the artists of Chinese painting and one of the excellent traditions of Chinese national painting.
This is the scene that Han Xizai and his guests were listening to the performance of playing the Chinese lute. Han Xizai and Lang Can,a scholar that got the frst place in the national imperial exam, were sitting on the bed. Other guests were standing or seated based on a and denge thicere thih gare tmical featimee af the things. Because of his higher status and the role as the host, his image was bigger than the other guests. In comparison, the maids, who were low in status, were drawn with a smaller size. The perspective of the beds, couches and desks is different from the focus perspective in the western countries and gives people an illusion of the size and distance of the objects. This is an important feature of the ancient Chinese painting.
